The Toolkit / Service / The Promise
Service · Tool 14 of 16
The Promise
Promise what you'll do.
Write down what you'll do for a person, by when and for what price, and what you'll do if you fall short, clearly enough to say yes to in one reading.
The board
Ten sections on one page
Print it, fill it in, and score each section from 1 to 5. Your score is out of 50.
How to use it
The ten sections of the Promise
What to do in each section, and what a 1, a 3 and a 5 look like. Score yourself honestly; the low scores tell you where to work next.
- 1
Ready for an offer
Who, from the Workbench.
Name who the Workbench marked ready.
- 1Started
- Someone not asked.
- 3Good
- A person marked ready.
- 5Excellent
- A person marked ready with them, with what success means to them.
- 2
Who it's for
The hero, in one line.
Write who it's for in one line.
- 1Started
- Everyone.
- 3Good
- One kind of person.
- 5Excellent
- One line a person would recognise as about them.
- 3
What will happen
To them, in their words.
Write what will happen to them, in their words.
- 1Started
- A feature list.
- 3Good
- A clear outcome.
- 5Excellent
- A clear outcome in their words, taken from the Workbench.
- 4
By when
When they'll notice.
Write when they'll notice the difference.
- 1Started
- Someday.
- 3Good
- A date or timeframe.
- 5Excellent
- A specific timeframe they agreed is right.
- 5
The price
What it's worth to them.
Set a fair price: what it's worth to them, not what the market will bear.
- 1Started
- A guess.
- 3Good
- A price.
- 5Excellent
- A price grounded in what it changes for them.
- 6
The terms
Simple enough for one reading.
Write the terms simply enough to decide in one reading.
- 1Started
- Small print.
- 3Good
- Clear terms.
- 5Excellent
- Terms so simple nobody needs to ask a question.
- 7
If we fall short
What we'll do.
Write what you'll do if you don't deliver.
- 1Started
- Nothing promised.
- 3Good
- A clear remedy.
- 5Excellent
- A remedy that costs us something real, so the promise means something.
- 8
The evidence
Why we believe it.
Write why you believe you can deliver it, from the Workbench and the Simulator.
- 1Started
- Hope.
- 3Good
- Some evidence.
- 5Excellent
- Evidence from real people who tried it, with sources.
- 9
Their answer
Yes or not yet, and why.
Read it to them. If they need a second reading, simplify it. Write their answer.
- 1Started
- Not read to anyone.
- 3Good
- Read to them, with their answer.
- 5Excellent
- Understood in one reading, with their answer and why.
- 10
Who keeps the promise
One named person.
Name the one person who keeps this promise.
- 1Started
- The company.
- 3Good
- A team.
- 5Excellent
- One named person the customer can reach.
How it works
- Made inStep 14 · OffersWrite the promise of what you will do for a customer, and what it costs, so they can say yes.
- What it's forWrite down what you'll do for a person, by when and for what price, and what you'll do if you fall short, clearly enough to say yes to in one reading.
- It feedsThe HandshakeBoth sides keep their word.
