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Editor's Introduction: The two "secrets" of customer loyalty shown by the leading companies featured in this article - overpromising and overdelivering - can be applied in exactly the same way with smaller companies, and in business-to-business, business-to-consumer contexts. You can also overpromise and overdeliver within a company. Divisions, departments, project teams, customer service teams, and even individuals can define a radically different promise and then overdeliver.

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A few remarkable businesses have discovered how to make their brands irresistible to more and more customers. Dozens of surprising brands - like Google, TiVo, Altec Lansing, Diesel, Hummer, Samsung - thrive in all sorts of sectors. Their key strength is a new approach to branding that beats the competition because it's infinitely faster and less expensive than traditional methods.

What is the secret of their success­ They overpromise and overdeliver.

Google vows to lead you to virtually anything you want to know - in 0.2 seconds. TiVo's pledge is: TV - your way! In a crowded business environment in which everyone seems to be shouting the same message simultaneously and at peak volume, exciting, breakthrough brand promises like these are the best way to stand out.

New companies must develop unique brand promises to battle their way into the marketplace. Established businesses have to periodically overhaul their brand promises to adjust to changes in their environments, their competitors, and their customers.

After brand promises have been established clearly, managers need to get their entire organizations aligned to deliver flawlessly on those big promises and, above all, consistently, every day, with every sale or interaction.

You can achieve this by creating and keeping your own breakthrough brand promise through TouchPoint Branding. And just as important, you must masterfully use three distinct contact points: Product TouchPoints, System TouchPoints, and Human TouchPoints.

Overpromise: TouchPoint Branding

First, your brand has to have a distinct promise. A promise is a serious commitment to do or deliver something at a particular time, without fail. A brand promise expresses all the things that set your brand apart from the competition, all the characteristics that make it distinctive. It should describe what the product will do for your target audience, how it is different from competing offers, and why a potential customer should buy it.

A brand promise also goes far beyond the utilitarian value of a company's product or service and the general category it occupies. A car is not just a means of transportation, and a Lexus is not just a car. McDonald's is about food, speed, and consistency. Wal-Mart, in essence, promises its shoppers that they can continually raise their standard of living without any increase in income.

 Where to begin to create such brand promises­ A successful promise is not born of a sudden flash of inspiration. It must be built piece by piece. Here are a number of basic questions for managers to deal with:

What is the essence of your company­ Every new business starts with a core idea of what the founder hopes to accomplish and how he plans to go about it. Your passion is what gives life to your brand promise.

Patagonia was founded by a young mountain climber, Yvon Chouinard, after he became disgusted with the quality of existing climbing equipment. Chouinard created new gear that was not only far stronger but reusable, which meant that mountains around the world would not be decorated with rusting bits of metal. Patagonia went on to offer rugged clothing and accessories for outdoor sports lovers, from climbers to skiers to bikers. The company's brand promise: "We provide for environmentally responsible adventure." Chouinard's insistence on high quality, coupled with his dedication to preserving the environment, resonated with his target audience.

What are your brand's most important attributes­ What do customers think of when they hear your company's name­ Poll your customers to see if their answers match yours.

Samsung consciously monitors its brand in a constant, ongoing process so as to fulfill its promise: In electronic design and technology, we deliver the latest and the best. Samsung has come a long way since it emerged on the international scene with bargain-basement reproductions of other companies' wares. These days its leadership in such technologies as LCD displays and DRAM chips propels it toward the top of the market in sales of big-screen televisions, microwaves, and other consumer electronics.

Samsung's promise demands constant research into the fickle tastes of its young, hip, gadget-crazy customers. To stay in touch, Samsung runs focus groups and conducts interviews to find out how customers and potential customers feel about the company's products, and what they want in new ones. In these sessions, Samsung team members try to spot changes in attitudes and other signs that may signify a developing trend.

Ask customers, "Why do you buy our product­" Then ask them, "Why don't you buy our competitors' products­" Asking customers why they buy can help you identify the kinds of people who are best served by your product or service. Chances are they won't be the ones you had in mind when you created your brand promise.

Ask noncustomers why they don't buy your product. Then ask them, "Why do you buy our competitors' products­" Noncustomers can be your only source for negative information. Negative feedback can have positive results. Sometimes the problems noncustomers cite are all too real, a glitch in the product design, perhaps, or maybe an irresponsible distributor. The sooner you know about these problems, the sooner you can fix them.

What emotions do your customers feel when they buy and use your product­ It's hard to think of products that fail to evoke emotional reactions in those who buy them. That's because the products customers use describe who they are. Each purchase is an occasion for deciding how they will be viewed by others.

Pottery Barn's brand promise is laden with emotion because it sells products for the home, a place that people care about deeply. Most people will not be satisfied unless their homes reflect their own taste and meets with the approval of visitors. By creating a lifestyle brand, Pottery Barn has found a way to satisfy both requirements. Its brand promise presents the company as a kind of home-decorating mentor. Salespeople are trained in helping customers to mix and match the furniture and then add the appropriate accessories. At each point of contact Pottery Barn pays attention to its customers' emotional needs.

Overdeliver: Product TouchPoints

Product TouchPoints occur where customers interact with the product or service a company is selling. These TouchPoints describe contacts in which the customer actually experiences, handles, buys, uses, and disposes of a product or service, and they are the primary factors in most buying decisions.

Nor does the Product TouchPoint encompass only the product or service itself. It also includes product availability and ease of acquisition, parts and service availability, warranties, and so on.

Take the example of Tadpole, whose brand promise is freedom for engineers through powerful notebooks at a bargain price. Mark Johnston environed a substantial market for powerful notebooks among engineers who take on major design projects like those involving cars and semiconductors. These engineers rely on computer-aided design software that requires far more memory and tougher microprocessors than typical notebooks have. These professionals are basically chained to the huge workstations in their offices.

ohnston's machines, called Sparcles, have the outward appearance of a standard consumer notebook. "Our model is to look as much like Dell as possible," Johnston told Forbes. However, Sparcles are capable of processing digital videos, photos, and databases up to ten times faster than is possible with traditional notebooks. There are positive signs that the company's Product TouchPoint is fulfilling its brand promise. At Nokia's operations in California, for example, Tadpole machines are enabling Bill Hall, systems administrator, to avoid having to lease a new building to house some 240 additional software engineers the company has hired. Instead, the new hires take turns working at the office and at home on their Sparcles.

Here are some Product TouchPoint lessons to be drawn from the Tadpole story:

Know your niche. Mark Johnston based Sparcle on his intimate knowledge of the territory. Hew knew that portability was a coveted feature. Remember: Before you can accurately design your Product TouchPoint, you must have an insider's understanding of your would-be customers.

 

Aim your firepower where it can have he strongest effect. Tadpole's unique brand promise of freedom for engineers focused on price and size. The company would aim to deliver a machine that weighed less and was much cheaper. Tadpole was able to deliver on that promise by focusing its R&D efforts on those two key goals.

Appearance counts. Johnston understood that its potential engineer customers would be impressed at the Product TouchPoint by a machine similar in size and appearance to a Dell notebook but with all the power of their Sun workstations.

Overdeliver: Human TouchPoints

Human TouchPoints occur when the customer directly interacts with the company's people. They make it possible to deliver on your brand promise in ways that only fellow humans are capable of - for instance, by empathizing with customers, clearing up misunderstandings, and tailoring solutions to a customers' particular circumstances. It is at the Human TouchPoint that frontline people can bend, and sometimes break, the rules in a customer-friendly way.

When the situation is complicated or ambiguous; when patience, flexibility, and initiative are required to hold on to a customer or win a new one, you have to rely on your frontline people. That's when the Human TouchPoint is your best solution for delivering your brand promise.

In some businesses the Human TouchPoint reigns supreme. People staying at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, for instance, want more than a comfortable bed and a hot shower. They expect the luxury hotel experience, and that means extraordinary human service with a winning smile. If you ask for directions within the hotel, you won't get an answer, you'll get an escort. All requests are met with the response, "It would be my pleasure, sir (or madam."

Everyone agrees that engaging human interactions are a basic ingredient of a breakthrough Human TouchPoint. The Container Store is a role model for that kind of service. The Texas-based retail chain, which offers some 10,000 storage products, grounds it brand promise in this simple reality: The company hires fewer frontline people than its competitors, trains and coaches them superbly, and pays them from 50 to 100 percent more than the going industry average.

Kip Tendell, the CEO, says: "When you take the time to educate your employees, pay them well, and treat them as equals, you end up with extremely motivated and enthusiastic people." Walk into a Container Store and you enter a world where smiling, friendly people seem to enjoy their jobs. They also listen carefully, respond intelligently, and suggest solutions designed to simplify your life.

Here are some lessons drawn from the Container Store experience to help you make the most of your Human TouchPoints.

Put it on paper. A company's leaders have to ensure that the brand promise is thoroughly understood by their frontline employees. The Container Store achieves this goal by having a set of principles that trainers and managers discuss with newcomers. When your Human TouchPoint truly reflects your brand promise you will realize a new level of sales and profitability.

Hire top talent. This can be expensive, but as the Container's experience shows, you can recoup your investment by decreasing turnover and increasing productivity and sales.

Invest in training. What you spend on top talent will be wasted unless you provide the training and education that will perfect your Human TouchPoints. Your employees need to know that you want something more than just getting the job done, you want it done magnificently. All first-year, full time Container Store employees receive 235 hours of training, compared with the industry average of 7 hours. Veteran full-timers get an average of 160 training hours. Very little turnover and productivity make such intensive training affordable for the company. The number of dollars spent by each customer has more than doubled over the last two decades, from the low twenties to almost fifty dollars.

Leave them alone. Once you have hired, trained, and indoctrinated the very best people you can find, they will be better equipped than your managers to help customers. Nothing should hinder them from exercising their knowledge and initiative. At the Container Store, sales people are encouraged to think like owners, improvising existing approaches and devising new ones on the spot.

However, Human TouchPoints have their limits. Many organizations rely on Human TouchPoints more than they should, which implies that the other TouchPoints, particularly the System TouchPoint, are not being optimized. Look around your business. How much of what your people do must be done by humans­ In many companies people regularly handle functions that could be done more simply, effectively, less expensively, and more consistently in other ways. Doing so would free up your people to deliver far higher value to customers.

Overdeliver: System TouchPoints

System TouchPoints include all other points of contact between a company and its customers. They occur when customers encounter processes (paper invoices, for example, and frequent-buyer programs) or systems (such as Web sites) that facilitate transactions. These days, technology-related System TouchPoints enable dozens of companies to overdeliver on their brand promise.

Like the other TouchPoints, the System TouchPoint is a moment of truth for a business, an opportunity to fulfill its distinctive brand promise. Doing so successfully requires the System TouchPoint to deliver a simple, convenient, and trouble-free transaction. Additionally, it must meet two important criteria: consistency and scalability. Your TouchPoints must reliably provide customers with a product, service or experience they can count on. In addition, your systems must easily accommodate demand as your market expands, which is the definition of scalability.

Not only do System TouchPoints help bring consistency and scalability to all your TouchPoints, they frequently offer customers the increasingly popular self-service option, like buying via the Internet. This allows any number of customers to transact business when they choose and with little wait.

Progressive, the insurance holding company, has a System TouchPoint called "Immediate Response," designed to resolve automobile insurance claims in hours or days, not weeks. Immediate Response means that Progressive springs into action 24/7 to give its customers caring, personal service and support immediately after it's notified of an accident or other loss. This program is an outstanding System TouchPoint for customers because it supports the company's brand promise: To make insurance easy and understandable, and with real service as fast as you need it.

Progressive's System TouchPoints provides as least four valuable lessons to companies seeking to make the most of their own TouchPoints:

Beat competitors that consistently fail to satisfy customers' basic expectations by designing System TouchPoints that enhance your brand promise. Progressive's decision to cut the waiting time and make claims service quickly available in person 24/7 was the key to its becoming a leader in auto insurance.

Be prepared to change all associated processes substantially when you establish an unusually innovative System TouchPoint. Progressive had to revolutionize its internal processes to support its higher level of service, while changing the way its adjusters worked and adding a fleet of vehicles to facilitate on-the-spot resolutions.

One new System TouchPoint can open the way for more. New systems grew out of Immediate Response. For example, customers can drive directly to a claims center after an accident. They pick up rental cars and leave the details of the repairs to Progressive.

Handle disruptive changes with care. When new System TouchPoints threaten to upset existing procedures, let them - but be sensitive to those most affected by the changes. Agents who feared that Progressive's self-service would curtain their relationships with clients were nervous. But by notifying the agents promptly of all changes the agents were able to gain additional leverage from their contacts with customers.

Reprinted by arrangement with Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

From OVERPROMISE AND OVERDELIVER by Rick Barrera

Copyright(c)2004 by Rick Barrera

Rick Barrera is the coauthor of Collaborative Selling and Non-Manipulative Selling.