We keep reading about the power of saying yes to our clients. And we keep telling ourselves the customer is always right, even when he or she isn’t.
To provide some relief from this obsession with saying yes, here is an instructive story for you.
Recently a close friend, my son and I went to a small, hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese restaurant in Camden Lock, London.
It had one of those scary menus with numbered dishes, from 1 through 195.
We glanced through all the items, settled on some starters and main dishes and called for the waiter.
My friend was the host, and took on the task of placing our orders.
The conversation went something like this.
“For our starters, we’ll have numbers 17, 23 and 34.”
“No.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Not 17, 23 and 34.”
“You don’t have them?”
“Yes, we have them. But they are not good.”
“Oh. So what is good?”
“12, 14 and 21. You have those. They are good.”
“OK. And what about our main dishes?”
“You tell me spicy or mild, fish, chicken, pork or beef. I tell you what’s good.”
An unusual experience, to be sure. But the outcome was that I enjoyed one of the best meals of my life, from a restaurant that didn’t look like much, and from a waiter who kept saying no.
There is a lesson to be learned here. The customer isn’t always right. We can often help our customers and clients best by saying no from time to time.
When we say no to poor quality, and yes to high quality, the outcome is the same as at that restaurant – a happy customer.
This lesson applies to pretty much every business model. In my case, I see it being relevant to the creation of web content. Every day companies ask writers to deliver fast, inexpensive and low-quality content.
Most of the time those writers say yes.
The smart ones say no, and create a reputation and brand for themselves that rises way above the ordinary.
Saying no can be good.
For a menu of over 70 high quality web content ideas, and dozens of articles on content best practices, check out the Web Content Café...
To provide some relief from this obsession with saying yes, here is an instructive story for you.
Recently a close friend, my son and I went to a small, hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese restaurant in Camden Lock, London.
It had one of those scary menus with numbered dishes, from 1 through 195.
We glanced through all the items, settled on some starters and main dishes and called for the waiter.
My friend was the host, and took on the task of placing our orders.
The conversation went something like this.
“For our starters, we’ll have numbers 17, 23 and 34.”
“No.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Not 17, 23 and 34.”
“You don’t have them?”
“Yes, we have them. But they are not good.”
“Oh. So what is good?”
“12, 14 and 21. You have those. They are good.”
“OK. And what about our main dishes?”
“You tell me spicy or mild, fish, chicken, pork or beef. I tell you what’s good.”
An unusual experience, to be sure. But the outcome was that I enjoyed one of the best meals of my life, from a restaurant that didn’t look like much, and from a waiter who kept saying no.
There is a lesson to be learned here. The customer isn’t always right. We can often help our customers and clients best by saying no from time to time.
When we say no to poor quality, and yes to high quality, the outcome is the same as at that restaurant – a happy customer.
This lesson applies to pretty much every business model. In my case, I see it being relevant to the creation of web content. Every day companies ask writers to deliver fast, inexpensive and low-quality content.
Most of the time those writers say yes.
The smart ones say no, and create a reputation and brand for themselves that rises way above the ordinary.
Saying no can be good.
For a menu of over 70 high quality web content ideas, and dozens of articles on content best practices, check out the Web Content Café...
Comments