Unless you’re in the business or slightly mad I don’t suppose you spend much time following the battle between the supermarkets – but I am slightly mad, and occasionally hopping mad, too.
Last year I bought some foul smelling cod from Tesco, but they wouldn’t give me my money back. There was a message on the receipt asking me to tell them how my “shopping experience” was – but when I told them I never even got a reply. When I had the same trouble with Sainsbury they gave me my money back – and a gift voucher.
Today I bought a sandwich from Waitrose and on the package I read a promise that if I was not satisfied, they would refund my money and give me a replacement. I had to read it twice to make sure. Yes: they’ll give you your money back and a new sandwich.
People talk about “killer apps”. That’s what I bet is a killer guarantee.
People greatly underrate the power of the guarantee. Generally if you offer something good, the stronger your guarantee the better you’ll do. Our cousins in the U.S. have, as ever, coined a fancy name for the reason why this is so. It is “risk reversal”. The stronger the guarantee the less people worry about putting their hands in their pockets.
Waitrose sales for the week ending October 15th were 11.7% higher than the same week last year
***
I am just recovering from my annual nightmare – EADIM. What makes it a nightmare is not just the fear of everything going wrong, it is that sitting through all the other presentations, which I always do, is a bloody sight harder than making my own.
It’s not half as hard, though, as what Rory Sutherland did on Thursday – fly in from New York, go home to freshen up then come and give us two hours of wisdom and hilarity in equal measure. A hero.
The big surprise from me this year was that less than half the delegates were from the U.K. and that it’s almost impossible to get a decent bottle of wine in the Cavendish restaurant for under £30.
What's so wrong about that is that Tesco made a TV advertisment specifically promising that you could take things back for a refund – and it even featured that whatsername actress returning – a cod.
Which reminds me of Ken Roman's dictum: never promise more than you can deliver; always deliver what you promise. (I regularly fall short)
Hi Rory
Im jose, drayton can tell you about me…(good things please) your presentation was the best, i ve never seen something like that.
Drayton defines quotes as destiled wisdom, your speach was …drunkness of wisdom….as im spanish and i dont unterstant much of the things you said…. But im lucky…because to get what you and drayton say i need to watch the same thing many many times…..repetiion always pays off
Thank you drayton
I took something back to Waitrose recently. All I wanted was a replacement, but the member of staff insisted on refunding me as well, even though I said it was quite unnecessary.
So not only do they offer the guarantee, but the most junior staff know exactly what to do if the situation occurs, and have the authority to make the refund without referring to a manager.
I was astonished by this, and told several friends about it. I have read that a customer whose complain or problem is satisfactorily resolved is more loyal on average than a customer who has never had a problem.
Tesco may be bad but Sony is utterly
useless.
Bought a £2000 Vaio laptop last year and it was rubbish. They failed to fix it
twice, refused to offer a refund and only relented when I threatened to sue and
tracked down a senior marketer via LinkedIn to tell them so (call centre staff
in Cairo didn’t care less). Resolved in the end but won't buy another
Sony product and neither will my company.