Lesson Eighteen: All-Star

A local fast food restaurant has been advertising their new “Chubby Chicken” burgers with these cute commercials. And so finding myself hungry at lunchtime and running late for
a meeting, I pulled into the drive-through and ordered one. The advertising worked, I tried it. The “Chubby Chicken” burger was not very good, and I’ll never buy it again.

The advertising did its job, it got me to try. But the restaurant failed in its half of the deal because it made a lousy product.

There is a saying: “Nothing will put a bad restaurant out of business quicker than good advertising.”Or, as I like to say, “You can trick me once,but I hold grudges.” Either way, you can only sell an inferior product once.

Conversely, J.J.’s Wonton Noodle House has a line-up out the door, without fail, by 6:15 pm every evening. They are closed Sundays and Mondays, don’t deliver, the ambiance is more cafeteria than restaurant, they don’t advertise, and the service is acceptable, at best. But they make the best Chinese food in the entire city. And those of us who know about
J.J.’s will put up with pretty much anything to have it.

Bad products fail, eventually. Good products need consistent marketing. Exceptional products just need a push to get them started.

Too often businesses are looking for a marketing solution to a quality problem. If your customers aren’t returning and your business isn’t growing, it might not be that you’ve got the wrong kind of customers, you might just have a lousy product. In which case, the solution is simple—sell a better product, give better service. It’s easy.

The real secret to be a runaway success is to be an All-Star. All-Stars are experts. They know everything there is to know about their business. They live, breathe, obsess and exude passion for what they sell. It’s hard not to feel the energy All-Stars have when they talk about their business.

The owner/chef of J.J.’s is an All-Star.The creative person at the advertising agency that made the chicken commercials is probably an All-Star. And the executive in the product development division of the corporation that owns the fast food chain—he isn’t one.



Principles of Persuassion by Shane Spark