What’s In A Brand?

Powerful. Mobile. Secure.

These words sum-up the Emergency Reporting system pretty well. Not surprisingly, they are also a big part of our identity as a company—from the developers to the sales team.

As President, I work primarily with the Sales and Business Development teams at Emergency Reporting. We’re a tech company, so we use text, email, and phones most of the time. Occasionally, we have to send something by post, and it’s usually important when we do.

We believe in honoring every promise we make to [our customers].

A while ago, I had a proposal that needed to get to a customer by mail the next day. So, I decided to work with a parcel company whose slogan is “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.” Our office contacted them about their latest drop-off time, and they said 6 PM.

Perfect! I got in my car and had it there at 5:10 PM—plenty of time to spare, right? It turns out, 6 PM was the last time for two-day pickup—not overnight pickup. The overnight deadline was 4:30 PM.

That’s the power of a brand slogan. In my mind, it wouldn’t make sense for them to be talking about anything but “overnight,” because that’s what they’re known for.

Here’s the point. At Emergency Reporting, we believe in honoring every promise we make to the firefighters, EMTs, and administrators that we serve. We make every effort to deliver on all fronts, with the power, mobility, and security that you see in our great system.

We don’t leave any room for dissatisfied customers.

So, how did we follow-through after this mix-up threatened to disappoint our customer? I took an early flight out of Seattle and hand-delivered the package myself. Because part of our powerful, mobile, and secure motto means always delivering on the customer’s behalf.

Tell me: what’s your brand?