by Editor | Aug 13, 2017 | consumer markets, op-ed, retail, strategy
I’ve been sitting for 25 minutes at Soho Coffee Co in Bristol Airport. And here’s the thing: every single empty table is filthy.
Covered in the crumbs, unidentified liquids and waste packaging of the previous occupants.
I was surprised that the upscale-looking franchise (sandwich = £5.10) did not jump on this — after all it takes seconds to run a cloth over the table — and then I observed something.
Customers sitting down were so appalled by the mess that they were cleaning up before enjoying their own purchases.
And Soho had realised this was happening and figured out they did not need to hire someone on clean-up. The customers would do it for free as a result of horror/good citizenship.
Now …
There is a valid argument that it is not Soho Coffee’s job to clean up after lazy, messy, entitled consumers. After all, a self-service environment includes self-clean-up, right? Those who refuse to clean up after themselves are not really living in a civilisation.
But what happens when the behaviour of customers leads to a dirty food service environment? That’s when you have to weigh the moral high ground with food safety and customer experience.
So here’s the math:
Brand equity resides in the experience. Marketers call it the second moment of truth.
We can educate customers about how we’d like them to behave: McDonalds manages this. But in the long run, it doesn’t matter whether it’s the job of consumers or the job of the restaurant. If clean-up isn’t happening then you’re the filthy café. For a coffee franchise, clean-up is not an expense, it’s a marketing investment.
Extrapolate to all other under-the-bonnet jobs that add to the customer experience.
by Editor | Apr 19, 2017 | op-ed, strategy, work
Bob has a pie shop and four staff who all make pies.
A makes the best pies.
B and C make good pies fast.
D is competent but neither good nor fast.
Bob needs a supervisor for production but can’t afford to hire. Which of his staff will he promote? (more…)
by Editor | Sep 29, 2016 | content, marketing, op-ed, strategy
I can tell you how to earn six figures working from home. Just read this post about how to win at content marketing — which is in itself a piece of content marketing — and join my mailing list to get a free download.
Does anyone ever click on this awful stuff anymore? (more…)
by Editor | May 21, 2016 | consumer markets, op-ed, retail, strategy
I’ve had it with mandala salesmen.
It’s not the item that bugs me. I’m pro-Mandala. It’s the oh-so arch pricing model that seems to be the exclusive preserve of sellers on Amazon Marketplace, eBay and Etsy. You know the one: “Only £0.50. (Plus £9.50 shipping).” We’re not imbeciles. We can see that’s a tenner. Just ask for a tenner and get on with it. (more…)
by Editor | Dec 19, 2015 | op-ed, strategy
It’s Christmas time so I put some free food out for the birds.
I say free—
The birds could get their beaks on the seeds only after agreeing to give me access to their list of family and friends, private bird photos, the GPS coordinates of their nests and control of their bird webcams and microphones. (more…)
by Editor | Oct 19, 2015 | marketing, op-ed, strategy
Espionage news
In an interesting twist to an ongoing story, Facebook has revealed it will now tip off people whose profiles it suspects are targets of espionage carried out or “sponsored” by nation states.
Users whose accounts have been compromised will now receive a pop-up notification warning them that “state-sponsored actors” (i.e. secret agents) are possibly now in control of their profile and that they should switch on an additional security feature called “Login Approvals”, which enables two-factor authentication. This kind of authentication might include entering a secret code sent securely via SMS to a burner phone in a dead drop in the laundry room of a Madrid hotel, among other methods. (more…)
