When Martin Luther King marched on Washington, did he have a dream, or a spreadsheet?
In this week’s Vlog, Grant explains why marketing success doesn’t always have to make financial sense.
Let me tell you about Mary.
When I was about 10 years old, I used to walk to school and Mary was the lollipop lady right near the school. Her smile was amazing and made your morning every day. And on Friday, she used to give out sweets, but Mary was replaced by a Pelican crossing – because it made more financial sense.
Pelican crossings don’t have time off work.
They don’t get sick.
They don’t need paying every day.
The only thing is, Pelican crossings don’t smile at you and give out sweets.
We lost the magic, when we lost Mary.
Business is about building connections with your customers and prospects. And that often means creating magic moments. Let me give you some examples.
The Magic Castle Hotel in LA has a red telephone by the pool. And if you call it, you get a free Popsicle that’s served on a silver tray with a person bringing it to you with gloves. Financially, you could stop that service and make more money, but it would lose a magic moment and commercially, I’m sure people go away and talk about that and it leads to more business.
The Double Tree Hotel has a warmer under every reception desk. And when you come in, they give you a free cookie. Of course, the CFO could cancel all the cookies and add thousands and thousands to the bottom line, but the experience wouldn’t be the same.
And Tesla’s ‘dog mode’ ultimately is just climate control, but it’s so human and it brings a smile to your face.
Financial expediency in any business is very important, but not at the expense of your humanity. Sometimes things that don’t make complete financial sense, actually, commercially lead to more business. And sometimes things that might be costly, actually are worthwhile undertaking.
Remember, when Martin Luther King got a million people to march on Washington, he had a dream, not a spreadsheet.
There may be small changes to the spoken word in this transcript in order to facilitate the readability of the written English
Comments
business value is so much more than what appears on the balance sheet
Absolutely Darryl!