Don’t DaVinci Your Customers

December 15, 2007

Unlike the Davinci Code, there shouldn’t be any hidden meaning or code behind the picture you paint of your business. And there is one thing worse than a business that doesn’t do what it promised it’s customer. It’s a business that promises the customer something that it can’t possibly do.

Think about it, if you make your customers promises that you can’t possibly keep, you might get their money. But you’ll also get all the following:

1) Complaints and customers demanding refunds.
2) They’re unlikely to use you again.
3) They’ll tell all their friends you suck.
4) If you’re really bad, they may tell the whole world about it via an internet review.

The travel industry is notorious for not living up to their promises. How often have you stayed in a hotel that is better than in their promotional photos and description? I’m guessing it’s not many.

And whatever type of business you own, you can learn a lot from mistakes made by the travel industry.

a) If you use pictures to sell your product or service, make sure they at least accurately represent what you’re selling. Don’t glam the photos up to make your product look better, or the customer will feel let down as soon as they see it.

Believe it or not, many hotels touch up their pictures to make them look much better than they are. So, any customer seeing their website or glossy brochure is going to feel let down as soon as they arrive.

b) Don’t post fake reviews about your business on the Internet: Some companies post glowing reviews on the Internet, making wild claims that their business can’t possibly live up to.

For example a couple of years ago, we were spending an evening in Glasgow. We planned to go to a really nice restaurant at One Devonshire Gardens, which is one of Glasgows best hotels. It might have made sense to stay there too, but there were many glowing reviews on trip advisor recommending a boutique hotel down the road. Many reviewers claimed that the hotel was much better than Devonshire Gardens.

For us - better and cheaper was a no brainer. But, the reality was quite different to the Trip Advisor reviews.

We arrived in the dark. Looking back, if we’d arrived in the daylight, we’d probably never have gone in at all. It wasn’t even a proper hotel. There was no reception area and the corridor was in darkness. Eventually, after knocking on the door several times, we were greeted by a scruffy rastafarian, with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. In short - the place was a total dump - we were actually scared to go to sleep.

We never got round to posting a real review on Trip Advisor - we don’t even remember the hotel name. But, you can bet that many visitors did.

c) If you’ve already made promises that you can’t keep don’t lie to your customer to cover up, as this will only annoy them more.

For example, one of my administrators made a mistake when booking a job. Instead of owning up to the customer she told them we were going to be late because the van broke down. Of course the customer discovered the truth and was furious. And after that, they did not trust anything we told them.

d) Don’t use the bait and switch technique - Many businesses will offer something for sale that doesn’t exist in attempt to lure the customer into buying a higher priced product.

For example, I was looking for a digital camera online. I found a suitable one that had immediate availability and could be delivered in two days. But a couple of days later the camera company called me to say the camera was out of stock. They could offer a better, higher priced alternative and it would be with me in 2 weeks. Well you can imagine how I felt - they’d completely wasted my time. I had to wait two extra weeks and pay more money too.

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Comments

5 Responses to “Don’t DaVinci Your Customers”

Mrs. Micah on December 16th, 2007 3:11 am

You know, a number of people over at Moolanomy (I think) were talking about the camera one on “The Unethical Art of Upselling” or maybe “The Art of Unethical Upselling.” Hmm..

Got it!
http://www.moolanomy.com/253/the-art-of-unethical-upselling/

Was yours with the same company?
Catherine Lawson on December 16th, 2007 4:56 am

Hi Mrs M - That wasn’t them. Mine was a UK based company - I don’t remember the name. But, I should imagine a lot of them do it.

The thing is with these types of upsells you feel cheated before you even buy something. The companies who do this are so short sighted.
Mrs. Micah on December 16th, 2007 5:03 am

Indeed. I suppose they’re looking for desperate people or those who’re trying to avoid hassle. But it turns off those of us who are looking for best price and already have backups lined up.

Your hotel ones also reminded me of one B&B we visited on our honeymoon. They were actually much nicer than their website let on. They looked decent on it, comfortable, friendly, competitively-priced, etc. The photos just weren’t good quality. When we got there, we discovered it was darling and had a lovely lawn and reading porch too. Nice surprise.

I think I trusted them more, too, because they didn’t look glossy and it’s just hard to trust glossy pictures.
cathlawson on December 18th, 2007 7:33 am

Mrs Micah - that was great that you actually had a good experience. And you’re right - it probably is better to trust the ones who have really bad pictures. At least you know they haven’t been touched up.

There is one particular chain that is notorious for touching up their pictures. I was going to book a vacation with them, then I read posts on a message boards saying that their resorts were not as nice as in the pictures as they glam them up. That put me right off.

As you say, it is v difficult to trust glossy pictures. And if they do that to get people to go there, you have to wonder where they’ll stop.
Barbara on January 5th, 2008 9:58 am

Catherine,

In business, I think it’s better to let the customer know what you are going to do, and then do a little bit extra…

With our business of excavating, we often tear up people’s yards…and they know to expect a mess. But, before we leave, we take a little extra time to rake out dirt piles, haul off excess debris, pick up rocks, and try our hardest to make it look like we weren’t there. They’re always please that we went that extra mile.