I’ve been told that a brand is a promise, and a GREAT brand is a promise well-kept.
Anyone can have a brand, as promises are easy to make. Not everyone, however, enjoys the pleasure of owning what I’d call a great brand because promises aren’t always easy to keep.
We reinforce our brand promise every day as we onboard new clients, guaranteeing that we’ll maintain certain thresholds of performance standards, deliver a consistently clean training space, and be the best part of our clients’ days.
But what happens when we’re so effective at delivering on this promise that we find ourselves inundated with opportunity? What happens when we run out of room in our assessment calendar and begin chopping consultations that are traditionally 90-minutes in length down to 75-minutes in order to squeeze one or two more in over the course of each day? What happens when we start overlapping them because we can’t bring ourselves to turn away revenue?
Well, for starters, we unknowingly push clients out the door when they begin to feel neglected on the training floor. Our promises begin to feel empty, as our actions tell the story that our bandwidth is reserved for attention to new faces in the space. Our promise gets pushed by the wayside, and our brand suffers as a result.
I’ve made this mistake, and there’s no telling the long-term brand implications of my promises poorly kept.
-Pete
PS: Interested in joining Fisher, Keeler, Ben, and me in Boston in September?
We’ll be getting together in-person on September 14th and 15th with some great gym owners for a weekend of learning and connecting.
Just a heads, the price jumps substantially after tomorrow.
Comment with “BOSTON” and I’ll send you details.