…And it was either a great story, or a not so great story, but trust me we all have one. Once upon a time someone once told me that when a person is ‘sold’ something they will do everything in their power to prove to others why it was a bad decision and when someone ‘buys’ something they will go to extraordinary amounts of effort to convince others why it was the right decision. I agree but I would add one small caveat to that guideline. That’s because sometimes we actually buy something but the experience is so awful that in the end we feel as if we were completely duped.
I want to walk you through two different examples to prove my point. Do you want the good story or the bad story first? Ok cool, I flipped a coin and we’re going with the bad one. I’m pumped because it probably makes sense to end on a good note.
I was once sold windows in my living room. We had met with two sales people at this point and were about to invite the third stranger into our living room to pitch us on his glorious windows for what would seem like the next three hours (that we will never get back). He went on with his presentation well after he needed to and since my wife and I were in the market we chose to go with his company and his product simply because he was the best of the worst. Just so I am completely transparent, all my energy was exhausted listening to sales people hold a heat lamp up to my window and then allowing me and my wife to think over the discount he offered while he smoked two cigarettes in my driveway. “Well, what do you think? Are you ready to book an install?” I actually felt disgusted but when he threw in an additional discount if we wrote a check I couldn’t barely contain myself. Well, the windows sucked. They basically never patched all of the gaps along the trim allowing air to flow through like a jet engine. Not to mention the condensation build up on our picture window that took nearly 8 months to finally be replaced. The customer experience was atrocious. Two years later they actually called me again asking if I wanted to replace my home's windows and forgot we were a customer. To this day there’s a sign in my yard that says “ask me about my windows and I will tell you a horror story.”
I’m kidding of course…about the sign, but hopefully you understand my point. Now think about it. What’s your horrible brand story? Got one?
