Positive first impressions quickly turn negative

I’m starting to notice something in my own behavior toward first impressions. When they start off negative they remain negative, but when they start out positive there’s no guarantee the impression isn’t going to turn.

There’s an organization in my neighborhood that made a wonderful first impression on me, but after the (very expensive) sale, service has gone down tremendously. Paperwork is always wrong, phone calls aren’t returned in a timely manner and email is almost always ignored. It’s a syndrome that’s all too common. Companies invest a large amount of resources to win over their prospects only to disappoint them in the long run. It reminds me of an oft forgotten, but important business adage – you’ll always impress your clients by under-promising and over-delivering.

Because of my recent (bad) experience I’d like to use this post to remind myself and remind my readers that under-promising and over-delivering is the way to win the game. Doing to opposite is sure to disappoint.

How to weave a story, boloco style

My last three visits to boloco have been filled with snippets of the story the burrito chain is trying to tell me. Instead of telling me outright, they've been leaving clues and I'm finding it an interesting approach. Normally restaurants tell you what their story is on a plaque, in a brochure or on the back of a menu. There's no such thing at boloco. Instead their story has been unfolding in the actions they choose to take.

The first time I visited I noticed a sign on the door Member of Dine Green. Dine Green is a non-profit dedicated to helping restaurants become more environmentally sustainable. On my second visit I noticed that boloco only uses naturally raised chicken, beef and pork in their burritos (as noted on the menu). And the third time I visited I noticed that written on my smoothie cup was the message This cup grew up in Blair, Nebraska. It really did. It's made entirely of corn. It's 100% compostable. It will disappear no matter what you do with it.

It took me three times to fully hear the boloco story, but it was an interactive experience. I gained more from it than I would have reading a corporate statement. I'm not saying corporate statements are bad, and boloco might even benefit from being more outward with its story. But a story with no obvious action doesn't work either, and its within its actions that boloco excels.

A nail salon differentiates itself

In a sea of sameness it's a pleasure to come across a business that's identified a need, solved it and worked it into their business model. Earlier this week I popped into a nail salon in Charlestown, MA for a pedicure. I don't particularly enjoy pedicures, but I find them a necessary evil in order to keep up with the vanity of pretty toes in the summer. One of the reasons I don't like getting pedicures is I always recall the horror stories of people contracting infections from improperly sanitized tools.

So back to the nail salon - after picking out my color the woman charged with giving me my pedicure asked if I had a box at the salon. I responded no, but inquired as to what she meant. Apparently, if you plan on returning to the salon they'll set aside a dedicated set of tools for you. They go in a box with your name on it and you are the only one those tools are used on - brilliant.

With that simple gesture the nail salon has distinguished itself from the flood of others and alleviated fears of tool contamination. Sure, it costs them extra money to maintain a higher than normal supply of nail salon tools, but by the sight of all the boxes they also have a lot of repeat business. And we all know, it's cheaper to retain a customer than to find another one.

Image credit: Yips

Free Marketing Idea

Here's a free marketing idea for my friends in the architecture field. The inspiration came from United Health; as part of their member outreach they send a birthday card to all their members reminding them of the preventive screenings they're due for that year.

Here's my twist for the architectural community. As part of your CRM (define) program send a birthday card (or perhaps an anniversary card) to your clients each year to commemorate the completion of the building your firm designed for them. It will remind them to reflect on the joy your firm's design has given them over the year(s) and keep your firm's name top of mind when they're considering other design projects, or speaking to friends and colleagues who might be looking for an architect.

Analyzing Boston's Visit the Pin

Boston has launched a quirky new marketing campaign designed to get more people engaged with the city. It's called Visit the Pin and it uses gigantic push pin replicas with tags as location markers. The tags on the pins ask viewers to text a keyword to 46305. I've only come across one pin so far and it's in Copley Square.

After texting COPLEY (as instructed by the pin) to 46305 I received a return message informing me that there's a farmers market in the area on Tuesdays and Fridays (which I knew since I found the pin on a Friday). It also invited me to call a phone number for more information, text A for near sites or text B for free events.

Texting A results in: Boston Public Library, Trinity Church and Newbury Street and a phone number for more info. Texting B results in Waterfront Performing Arts Series, Landmarks Orchestra Hatch Shell and AHTS: Boston Arts Festival and a second phone number. I was also directed to visitthepin.com to learn more.

The campaign is intriguing. It captured my attention and warranted some follow-up. But there are certainly things the city could be doing better. Here's my 30 second analysis of what works, what doesn't and suggestions for improvement. Feel free to add your own comments at the end.

What works: The pins catch people's attention and encourage them to interact with their environment. Texting results in more options for interacting, including phone and web.

What doesn't: The campaign doesn't engage people that aren't willing to send that first text. The phone numbers that the city provides in their follow-up texts aren't of much use (one led to the parks department's voice mail telling me they're often out of the office, the other phone number just rang and rang with no answer) and the website doesn't extend the campaign branding.

Suggestions for improvement: Give people multiple ways to interact with the pin. Text is great, but put a phone number and URL on the tag as well. Give clues to where the other pins are, make a game out of it and the city's likely to get more interaction. And finally, if you're going to throw out a couple of phone numbers, make sure they're supported, if not by person than at least have a campaign specific voice message.