A Pizza With No Toppings Please
This blog post is about something which kills confidence in your customers.
Over promising and under delivering.
Case in point, my local Dominos Pizza. I tend to have a pizza on a Friday evening. I see a photograph of the one I want on the website, I read about all the delicious toppings and can see that tasty mozerella cheese dripping off the garlic bread and the rich tomato sauce spread lovingly over the base, much like the one in this picture actually.
What do I see when I lift the lid ready to enjoy the tasty delights inside?
Something which looks like it has had the toppings picked off and eaten and then left to dry under a light bulb for a few hours. I’ve eaten better at motorway service stations.
When my sister orders from Dominos she has to specifically ask for the toppings which should come with the pizza. Really, how much do mushrooms really cost for goodness sake?
If you want to delight your customers then under promise and then over deliver on their expectations. Tell them it takes 7 business days to deliver and do it next day. Tell them you will give them 10% extra and give them 50%.
Next time I call Dominos I will ask for a pizza with no toppings and I bet they will say that they don’t do such a pizza at which point I can say ‘you did them last week.’
Paul Browning
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Tag:Promises
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10 Comments
Paul, we’ve probably all heard at least once that it’s easier to keep existing customers than to constantly be marketing for new ones (though that is important too.) So it seems that businesses would want to, at a mimimum, consistently deliver what they promise and even, as you say, deliver more than promised.
I would think that by ?under promise? if you mean that you?ve got a clear idea of a realistic best case scenario and a realistic worst case scenario, if you guarantee you can deliver within the worst case scenario and strive to achieve the best case on behalf of your customer, you will have satisfied customers.
For the businesses we deal with that consistently under deliver, we should let them know they are not meeting our expectations, and take our business elsewhere.
Those of us in business or thinking about starting a business should welcome feedback about our service, seek it out and act on it. Better to receive feedback that we are not satisfying a customer then to have them walk away with no word.
Truth in advertising comes to mind. A business wants to entice customers with its advertising, but then must be able and willing to deliver the product or service implied in the advertising. Anything less will leave disappointed and perhaps angry customers. Anything more is likely to provide a competitive edge.
Good point Joe. I?d like to see all businesses really examine their advertising carefully, and ask themselves if they are able and willing to deliver. Honestly. Depending on the answer they should either change the ads or pay close attention to the service.
A one man operation only has to answer for himself (or herself) but if there are employees, it?s up to the owner or the managers to ensure all employees know what?s expected, and deliver.
Back to an earlier comment stating businesses should want feedback. That?s true. And then we, the angry customer, needs to have a constructive suggestion or two for those occasions when a business might really ask. For example. Paul, if you got the opportunity to tell Dominos that they certainly do ?make pizzas with no toppings?, and a manager or staff person really asked about your experience and your suggestions ? would you have some to discuss? I know, I know ? not much chance of them asking but some businesses might. Just something to think about for ourselves.
Hah! I got a chuckle out of the post, but then had to stop and wonder how many times I?ve delivered ?a pizza with no topping?. Hopefully not often, but certainly on occasion. Ouch!
Negative feedback is hard to take. One way around that is to deliver great service. Then you can enjoy the good feedback 🙂