Business Transparency

Business Transparency

“It is what it is!”  “What you see is what you get!”  “No smoke and mirrors!”  We hear things like this all of the time in movies, through reading and in every day life.  The cool part about the world we live in today is the fact that these statements hold truer than ever.  Consider the following:  A couple eats at a new Japanese steak house in the area.  They finally found a babysitter for their 3 year old son and are excited to enjoy a night out.  They walk through the front door and instead of being greeted, they notice a group of employees huddled around an i-pad watching a youtube video of a cat playing the violin.

Eventually, a young girl walks toward the couple and asks, “do you have a reservation or not?”  In awe at the lack of professionalism, the couple responds with a sarcastic tone, “we have a reservation for7:30.”  While walking to their table, the hostess trips into a bus boy and spills a tray of drinks.  Instead of saying sorry, the hostess says, “this has been a real bad day.  I can’t wait to get out of here!”  Needless to say, the couple looks at each other with the same thought in mind, “This is a hot mess!”

During dinner, the chef messes up the order, over cooks the shrimp and in an ill-attempt at humor hits a women in the eye with an under cooked scallop.  At the end of the night, the couple pays the bill and swears to never come back again.

Ok, with that story in mind, let’s make a few points starting with the obvious:

  • The couple is never going back to that restaurant
  • Facebook status and tweets that read, “Went to this awful restaurant in ABC town called XYZ.  If you haven’t been there yet, DON’T BOTHER.  Bad experience!!!!!!”  Let’s not spend too much time talking about the “share” button, events, groups…
  • Negative review on Yelp
  • A negative mention to every one of their friends at every party, work event and social gathering

The point is simply this.  We live in a world of social and business transparency.  The only way to survive is by, quite simply, having a great product/ service.  Your youtube channel, website, facebook fan page will only be as good as you are.  People are smart.  Respect their intelligence!  For example, the next time a concerned mom asks for price after you’ve pushed the benefits of the program, tell her.  Understand that anybody can figure out most things simply by typing in the google search bar.

Interested to hear your thoughts!

Chris Millares

CM