Powills: The Power of Not Overpromising

Why do people feel a constant need to promise the world, yet fail to deliver upon their promise? This happens all over the place, in business, in love, in life, in responsibilities. It seems during the construction of humans, the piece which promises we deliver the truth, and nothing but it, was left off. If you Google News ‘franchise growth’, you will find a plethora of brands claiming they have 500 units sold or that there are another 500 units opening in the future. This is overpromising. When you actually have 75 open and 425 in the pipeline, a majority of those numbers will stay the same. Overpromising happens everywhere in the franchise world, and it’s not just on the development side. How many franchisees have signed a development agreement agreeing to open five stores in the next three years, and failed to meet that quota? Plenty. How many CEOs have requested their franchise development team sell more units than a budget allows, only to be told in late fourth quarter a number of reasons why that goal will not be reached? Plenty. How many PR firms have told clients that they would secure all this great press for them? Even further, how many PR firms have told clients that they have Entrepreneur Magazine, Wall Street Journal and USA Today in the pipeline? Plenty (and thanks for that, because then we have to go in, hear the client has been burned by an agency, and then clean it up and earn back trust). How many people on your team, executives or not, have told you that they would hit a deadline, only to miss it, ignore emails or calls, and then deliver the product to you a few days late stapled with an excuse? Plenty. The reason we do this is because we are afraid to fail and afraid to disappoint. However, failure and disappointment could be avoided if we were all honest and direct from the beginning. Unlike in business, in professional sports, it’s hard for athletes to overpromise. I had the pleasure of playing pick-up basketball this weekend with former Chicago Bulls player and current Chicago Bulls radio announcer, Bill Wennington (@34billy42). (Check out Thuzio.com if you want to experience something like this too). During our Sunday pick-up game, he torched our team from beyond the three-point line (granted, that line was about 10 feet closer than NBA range and ideal for his 19-foot sweet spot shot). For a 7 ft., 300-pounder, this was not the norm during his playing days. I asked him why he never shot threes in a game. His answer? Statistics, the fact that Phil Jackson would have killed him and that the Bulls management staff signed people like Steve Kerr to hit those shots, not him. When signing his playing contract, he didn’t tell the Bulls that with him came game winning shots, fade away turnarounds and three pointers. What he sold them on was his solid 19-footer (for a big guy), and that when Shaq would block the middle of the lane, they could put him in to nail a few of those shots and open the lane up for Jordan and Pippin to take over. He didn’t promise 10 points per game or a dozen rebounds; he just promised to do his best, hit 50 percent of his shots and deliver as much as the structure of the team would allow him. This is not overpromising. Bill could not tell his next team that he’s able to average 50 points a game and they should pay him more. Statistics don’t lie. Statistics are the breakthrough for eliminating promises that cannot be delivered upon. In franchise development, if you are recruiting a new hire, you should examine their stats. How many deals have they awarded? And more importantly, of those deals, how many are still open? The same goes for future franchisees. Brands claim they have 500 units in the pipeline –  question what that means. How do they ensure those get open? The same goes for love. How many people have you slept with? Statistics are the savior. They can show patterns and expose the likeliness that proclaimed promises are in fact  realistic. In hiring, recruiting and love – ask the questions that will give you the answers you seek to make sure you aren’t left at the alter of business. It’s OK to question. Someone who hasn’t overpromised will tell you they can’t score 50 points, but will do their best to nail the 19-footer. And that’s a promise worth keeping.