Pick a promise and deliver on it—every time

In a previous article, I wrote that figuring out your differentiated promise to your customers should be the top priority for your B2B service company. If you still need to do that, stop reading this article now and start there.

Your second most important problem is to KEEP THAT PROMISE to your customers. If you do, every assignment will create even better conditions for the next; you'll practice all the right skills, make valuable references, and build financial slack to reduce stress and do your best work.

To create this virtuous spiral of better delivery, higher margins, and more attractive assignments, one thing is clear: your definition of QUALITY SERVICES must follow your promise to your customer.

Try how this definition of quality tastes in your mouth:

"We measure the quality of our services by the degree to which we deliver on our customer promise."

If your customer promise is about operational excellence, delivering on time and budget, you must consistently deliver... on time and budget.

If your customer promise is about technical excellence and innovative solutions, you should define quality by that.

If you promise an outstanding customer experience and a deep understanding of your customer's needs, then do just that!

Am I saying that you can choose one aspect of quality and ignore the others? No! I'm only saying that your customers will take those other aspects for granted and won't give you extra credit for delivering on them.

The finish of your deliverables, the reliability of your performance, and the predictability of time and money all need to meet expectations. However, to charge a premium for your B2B services, you need to focus beyond the basics.

Your differentiated customer promise is why your customers chose you and that is where you need to excel and prove they made the right choice!

Anders Wengelin
CEO, Partner and Management Consultant