A few months back I saw this crazy slogan on the back of a commercial van.  This is what it said…

“My Plumber Smells Good AND Shows Up On Time!”

…And then underneath the slogan it had the typical contact informaton of the plumber (name, phone number, address, etc.).  

It dawned on me that this was a great headline…  And as I thought about it, I realized it was great because it offered a particularly strong USP (unique selling proposition).  And I want to talk for a minute about why it’s such a strong USP…  

But first let me ask you a question… What are probably the two most common complaints about plumbers?  And let me give you a hint, it has to do with their timeliness and the odors they give off.  :)  Y

You see, this is a brilliant headline and slogan because it takes that which the average consumer thinks are the more annoying parts of a plumber  and turns that upside down!  Wow, talk about differentiation…  This is a case study on how to do it! 

Notice too that coming up with this slogan was obviously not happenstance–i.e., it took some research on the part of someone to find out what the average Joe dislikes about plumbers…  This is something we *all* need to be doing — researching our market, and in particular — the customers of the market — to find out what their typical objections are…their points of distrust, etc.  And while addressing those issues in a headline won’t work for every market, we need to think creatively about how we can proactively answer the questions our customers might be asking.

When communicating to prospects or customers, you would do well to take the time to be precise.  In particular, be as specific as you can.  Don’t make it confusing for your customer, and never invite questions!!   When communicating with customers or prospects, you should be anticipating any questions they might have and proactively answering them.

You would think multi-million billion dollar companies would get this, but alas….     Check out this piece of snail mail I received this past year from Comcast.  This is how it read:

Dear Valued Comcast Customer:

We hope you have been enjoying your Comcast Cable service.  A recent review of our records indicates that your November 2008 payment was inadvertently credited twice.  Effective with your next billing statement, this error willbe corrected and your account will be charged ont time in the amount of $ XX.XX.

If you have any questions, please call 1-800-COMCAST and a Comcast representative will be able to assist you.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and as always, we thank you for being a loyal customer.

Sincerely,
Comcast

Now you tell me…What do you see wrong the with the letter above?  Besides the fact that a multi-billion dollar company is nickel and diming their customers because of an error THEY made (I’ll leave that lesson for another post), the most glaring thing is the lack of specificity in the dollar amount owed. 

I’ll be charged HOW MUCH?!  $ XX.XX?!?!   What he heck is that supposed to mean?

Now how many disgruntled calls do you think Comcast received because they didn’t at least provide an estimate to customers of the amount?  I’m guessing many, and even some cancellations to boot.  All because they didn’t take the time to be specific and precise in their customer communication. 

Frankly, there is no excuse to get this wrong.  In any business, there are many things outside of your control.  Supplier problems, credit delays, and the link… For example, in the case of Comcast, there are so many technical variables that have to be functioning perfectly in order for their product to flourish.  But customer communication?  This is something we can control, and something that has a major impact in terms of reputation management and branding.  Let’s not screw it up!