The impact of personal experience on a brand

There’s apparently only one Sri Lankan chocolate that’s been selected as a Superbrand. It’s quite interesting that it’s also my longtime favourite local brand.

There’s also a shop that is dedicated to this particular brand of chocolate.

All these things came to mind one day, when I left home one day, seeing the advertisement for the brand’s new status in a paper. That very afternoon, on my way to visit my dearly beloved, I stepped into the brand’s shop to buy a box of chocolates. After making my selection, I handed over the box to the salesperson at the counter.

When she told me the price was two hundred rupees, I handed over a five hundred rupee note since I hadn’t exact notes for that amount.

Her reaction was fascinating; with a sheepish grin and a shrug she tells me that she doesn’t have change. She leaves me standing in the shop with the chocolates in a bag and goes on about her other business, oblivious to my intent to purchase the chocolates.

Puzzled, I asked her again whether she wasn’t going to take my money. She simply shrugged and told me (albeit, with the sheepish grin) that she doesn’t have any change.

This left me with four options:

1. Take the chocolates and leave, without making any payment since the salesperson doesn’t seem to want any,
2. Go out and change my five hundred rupee note and come back again with exact change,
3. Leave the chocolates and buy something different
4. Leave the chocolates and go to a different shop

Option 1 seemed a little dodgy and option 2 was absolutely out of the question.
Option 3 was an option, but the fact that I was being forced to overspend or underspend by the salesperson made it a very unattractive option.
So I took option 4.

So What?

Well, in the end the manufacturer didn’t lose out, since I bought the same box of chocolates for the same price at a Cargills. But the experience certainly didn’t impress me with the shop. Not what I’d call good marketing.

The impact of the frontline

The cashiers, the salespersons etc - these are the frontline of an organisation - the operational people. They are generally lesser paid than the managers and executives who put together brand identity and I’m willing to bet that they’re also uninvolved in the advertising of things. However, they are also generally the people in the front line - the people who have the most contact with the customer. Therefore, they are also the people who will have the greatest impact on the customer’s opinion of the product.

My opinion would be that any salesperson would always look at making sure the customer leaves with they want.

When operating a specialised store, it would be safe to assume that the customer has already decided what they want even before they step in (would it be so hard to predict what someone wanted to buy, when they walked into the old Fountain Cafe?). Therefore, the purchase decision has already been made, so its merely a matter of closing the deal.

Failure to do so, doesn’t mean that the salesperson failed in her duties. But it does mean - in my opinion anyway - that she contributed negatively to the brand, especially since the shop was dedicated to the sale of that particular brand of chocolate.

So what can be done about it?

I think that sales persons need to be more involved in the branding process, since they are essentially part of the brand itself. All the money pumped into branding and advertising would be in vain, if the point of contact with the customer didn’t live up to expectations.

Maybe it’s because I read too much of Seth Godin.

UPDATE: Ramit Sethi has an old post, which I think covers the same topic, albeit with a better name for it: The Failure of the Last Mile.