Making Bold Promises? Beware of These 2 Problems

To make bold promises to attract new clients.

I am not too unfamiliar with this marketing tactic now.

To guarantee results like "20% increase in sales through landing pages".

But these can work temporarily.

And now one likes to build a temporary business.

So let's explore why making these bold guaranteed promises can be hurtful for you.

And what steps I suggest you can take to protect yourself better.

The Problems with Bold Promises:

Making bold promises may attract initially, but what happens when those guarantees are not met?

Couple of things for sure:

1) When guarantees are not met, clients lose trust in your agency.

That means, you are damaging your reputation + relationship with them AND you are losing future business with that client.

2) How would you feel towards a service provider that promised you everything but delivered nothing?

You won't think highly of them, right?

You might even expose them online.

That's what happens - it ruins the agency's reputation.

And negative word-of-mouth and reviews can impact your ability to attract new clients.

The Root Cause:

Most agencies that make bold promises set specific targets, like a 20% increase in sales.

However, sales can be influenced by numerous factors beyond your control, such as

• Market conditions

• Customer behavior

The main problem is:

Many contracts do not detail the guarantees and conditions clearly.

And most templates you find online can't really do this for you.

Because the people who made those templates made it for a wide audience and not just your specific business.

And this leads to misunderstandings and disputes.

The lack of accountability clauses also means there is no recourse for clients for unfulfilled promises.

So what do they do?

They go to established authorities and complain to them.

How To Fix This Mess

There are a couple of steps I suggest you take here.

To protect your agency and ensure clear, achievable commitments, focus on the following key points:

1) Realistic Promises with Achievable Goals:

The first step is to base your promises on thorough market analysis and realistic assessments.

Set achievable goals that consider various influencing factors beyond your control.

Because what you can't control is what bites you.

2) Detailed Contracts:

Make sure you clearly outline what is guaranteed and under what conditions.

That "What conditions" part is what most people miss, and that's what causes most issues.

So specify the exact deliverables, timelines, and client responsibilities.

3) Accountability Clauses:

Make sure to have clauses that hold both parties accountable for their respective roles.

Ensure there are consequences for not fulfilling the agreed-upon responsibilities.

4) Clear Performance Metrics:

Make sure to have clear performance metrics to evaluate success.

Examples

Now, you can have some clauses that will make it easier for you.

Note - I don't recommend using these, but I am giving you an idea of how they could look.

For performance metrics, you can have:

"Success will be evaluated based on the following performance metrics:

[ List specific metrics such as increased web traffic, conversion rates, etc.].

Regular reports will be provided to ensure transparency and track progress"

For accountability, you can have:

"Both parties agree to be accountable for their respective responsibilities.

Failure to meet these responsibilities will result in a review and possible amendments to the project timeline and deliverables."

Something along those lines helps so much.

Because now you have something to fall back to.

End Notes

So to protect your agency from the pitfalls of bold promises...

Just make sure to make realistic promises, and have detailed contracts.

Take a moment today to review your current contracts and promises.

Are they realistic and clearly defined?

And if not, they need changing and updating.

If you need my assistance in helping you with that Contract.

Then feel free to reach out to me by replying to this email.

I read all the replies!

-- Akhil Mishra