The Story

“The water is 25% the service.” That’s what my friend Moe from Hawthorne Cafe tells me as I struggle to maintain both eye contact with this delightful owner, and molar contact with delicious bites of toast. I gobble furiously to free up my attention for what he’s about to tell me, while at the same time, try to quickly grasp what he’s just said.

“If you don’t provide the water immediately,” he continues, “You start out with 75%.” At this point of the conversation, I’ve forgotten why he’s telling me this. But it doesn’t matter because as I think about it, I realize he’s just given me gold.

What Moe is saying is that there are expectations that must be met–and usually they’re small–like water at a restaurant. And when you don’t meet even the smallest of expectations, you’re playing catch up from that point on.

Whether we’d all like to admit it or not, we play host to our guests who come to us for an experience. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a bank, credit union, restaurant or brand development company, knowing how big a role the little things play is critical. A small item like water is a big symbol of hospitality for Moe’s Hawthorne Cafe. In your house, it may be a greeting or eye contact.

Whatever it is, don’t skip it. It means more than you think.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Bank Branding, Credit Union Branding, Bank Marketing, Experiential Marketing, Branding, Credit Union Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.