Don't advertise. Get your service right first, please.

I’m finding myself telling my service clients, with increasing frequency, to focus on their operations before investing in advertising. And recently the pepper GM has been turning my advice on me telling me that pepper should not be looking for more clients unless we have the people to serve them.

So when I saw my e-mentor Seth Godin blog today on the same subject I thought I would share it with you’ll. Imagine if a service company was brave enough to stop advertising for one whole year and take the money they would have spent on advertising and add it to their budget for improving their customer experience. Wouldn’t that make them a stronger brand? I think people will notice the improvement in service and tell others. Now that’s advertising.

Here’s what Seth had to say:

Have you noticed how upbeat the ads for airlines and banks are?

Judging from the billboards and the newspaper ads, you might be led to believe that Delta is actually a better airline, one that cares. Or that your bank has flexible people eager to bend the rules to help you succeed.

At one level, this is good advertising, because it tells a story that resonates. We want Delta to be the airline it says it is, and so we give them a try.

The problem is this: ads like this actually decrease user satisfaction. If the ad leads to expect one thing and we don’t get it, we’re more disappointed than if we had gone in with no real expectations at all. Why this matters: if word of mouth is the real advertising, then what you’ve done is use old-school ad techniques to actually undercut any chance you have to generate new-school results.

So much better to invest that same money in delighting and embracing the customers you already have.

Don’t advertise. Get your service right first, please.

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