Over and under promise

Promise is a commitment to act. However it is quite common in all societies that promise is something which is uncertain until we have an English saying: "Promises are meant to be broken" and a German Proverb: "Nothing weights lighter than a promise". That is the reason why there is a requirement for a written contract to bind promise legally. If the contract is broken, then there will be legal and monetary consequences.

However a written contract would normally be for business and it involves lengthy process and cost with high value and great commitment for those who sign it off. Then what about a simple promise to deliver a service or assistance? Surely this is normally verbal and the uncertainty will then exist.

Promises that were kept by a person will win him or her other people's trust. With trust and consistency, the person will be able to build his or her integrity and reputation. It would be a lot easier to get acceptance from others once a person has high integrity and good reputation. A German Proverb aptly says "Promises are like the full moon, if they are not kept at once they diminish day by day."

So what can we do? A more pragmatic approach to this is to promise only what you can deliver. This would be the basic of promise. To then deliver more than you promise would be a delight for the recipient. So this is my business theory and methodology on promise and the reason I have placed the two prepositions before the word "promise" in my title i.e. "over" and "under" promise.

If you refer to the chart below, the basis of my business theory and method will be a degree of control of the resources (i.e. capability) and knowing intimately what would be the likely outcome of each endeavour to fulfil a promise. The barriers to reaching the highest peak of the chart will be time, cost and manpower. However the prize of delivering the customer's delight will be loyalty and sustainable business.

What would be an example of reaching to the peak of Customer's delight? Let me share a service industry example, say the customer's requisition is to be served within 15 minutes with 100% accuracy of delivery. Depending on your promise capability, the various timeline and customer's reaction will be as follows.
For a delivery of 5 minutes, your capability to serve with 100% accuracy is when orders are low. However in a thriving business, this is something you would not want but the customer is hoping for. For a delivery of 15 minutes, your capability to serve with 100% accuracy is a standard operation that you will deliver to each order. If this is not possible, then there is obviously something wrong with your service operation as this will be below market practice. In the third scenario, with high operation efficiency that surpasses market practice, you will be able to deliver your service within 10 minutes and the customer will be delighted.

Hence with this information, you may provide promise you would know you can deliver. As time passes and a lot more efficiency is gained, the timeline may be further reduced so that your high integrity is established and your good reputation is known as a world class business.