Jul
26
"what's the point in wearing your lucky rocketship underpants if no one asks to see 'em?" - Calvin & Hobbes
Calvins' lucky rocketship underpants were very close to his heart. Of course, they were actually closer to his backside, but we'll not let that get in the way of today's post, will we?
He was very proud of them: They brought him luck and they had rocketships on them.
What really got on Calvin's &%$@s was the fact that nobody else showed any interest in them.
You go to all that effort...
...and still nobody shows any interest.
For those of us trying to encourage people to buy things from us, the "lucky rocketship underpants" syndrome illustrates a serious problem.
The problem is one of relevance. Relevance to what your customers want to know about.
If you get relevance wrong, it doesn't matter what colour your underpants are or how many rocketships are on 'em - nobody is going to ask to see them.
Some hotels think that relevance is all about them. They'll bore you to tears with tales of comfortable beds, professional service, friendly staff and locally sourced produce. All very nice I'm sure - and factually correct of that there's no doubt. But very, very dull.
If you want people to ask to see your lucky rocketship underpants, you need to be prepared to tell them about why those underpants should matter to THEM. Not you. THEM.
Has anybody ever insisted that they should stay at your hotel for any of the following reasons?
- Your sympathetic refurbishment?
- Your comfortable beds?
- Your friendly staff?
- Your locally sourced food?
Go on, be honest now...
Your sympathetic refurbishment means a lot to you because you were the one who wrote out all the cheques for it.
Your comfortable beds can be easily copied by any other hotel capable of buying a comfortable bed.
Your friendly staff? Should be friendly - that's what people expect hotel staff to be...
Your locally sourced food could have come from the Tescos round the corner.
So if you've got a recently refurbished hotel with brilliant beds, scintillating staff and fabulous food - why don't you spend some time thinking about what the customer experience of all that is going to feel like? What's it going to be like to stay there? Be there? Eat there?
Tell people what it's going to be like, how it's going to make them feel and what emotions it's going to arouse.
Then maybe they'll ask if they can see your lucky rocketship underpants...
Calvins' lucky rocketship underpants were very close to his heart. Of course, they were actually closer to his backside, but we'll not let that get in the way of today's post, will we?
He was very proud of them: They brought him luck and they had rocketships on them.
What really got on Calvin's &%$@s was the fact that nobody else showed any interest in them.
You go to all that effort...
...and still nobody shows any interest.
For those of us trying to encourage people to buy things from us, the "lucky rocketship underpants" syndrome illustrates a serious problem.
The problem is one of relevance. Relevance to what your customers want to know about.
If you get relevance wrong, it doesn't matter what colour your underpants are or how many rocketships are on 'em - nobody is going to ask to see them.
Some hotels think that relevance is all about them. They'll bore you to tears with tales of comfortable beds, professional service, friendly staff and locally sourced produce. All very nice I'm sure - and factually correct of that there's no doubt. But very, very dull.
If you want people to ask to see your lucky rocketship underpants, you need to be prepared to tell them about why those underpants should matter to THEM. Not you. THEM.
Has anybody ever insisted that they should stay at your hotel for any of the following reasons?
- Your sympathetic refurbishment?
- Your comfortable beds?
- Your friendly staff?
- Your locally sourced food?
Go on, be honest now...
Your sympathetic refurbishment means a lot to you because you were the one who wrote out all the cheques for it.
Your comfortable beds can be easily copied by any other hotel capable of buying a comfortable bed.
Your friendly staff? Should be friendly - that's what people expect hotel staff to be...
Your locally sourced food could have come from the Tescos round the corner.
So if you've got a recently refurbished hotel with brilliant beds, scintillating staff and fabulous food - why don't you spend some time thinking about what the customer experience of all that is going to feel like? What's it going to be like to stay there? Be there? Eat there?
Tell people what it's going to be like, how it's going to make them feel and what emotions it's going to arouse.
Then maybe they'll ask if they can see your lucky rocketship underpants...
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