Badge of honour
Badge of honourHowdy. I took my son Jack into his first Scouts meeting last night. He's going to go along for a couple of meetings to see if he likes it. If he does, he'll join.
That was the plan anyway. But then this happened:
I was walking up the steps of the hall entrance with Jack when 'Josh', one of the leaders came out. Josh was about 20 years old, had the full Scouts uniform on with badges and lapels and all sorts of official looking stuff.
Jack gazed at all that stuff pretty much the same way most men gaze at beer.
In that millisecond Jack made up his mind that he wanted to join the Scouts. He didn't speak to anyone, he hadn't met anyone, he hadn't even made it into the hall!
Uniforms and decorations hold very powerful influences. A person in uniform gets instant credibility. People respect uniforms and badges. It's just the way it is.
Titles and Awards
It's the same with Job titles. Job titles help distinguish between 'levels' in a company. They are held in very high regard by people. people want to be able to tell their friends, family and significant others that they are the "General Manager" rather than a "Salesperson".
That's why salespeople jobs have titles like "Sales Manager" now. Or "Account Executive."
Titles matter.
And then there are Awards.
We often encourage clients to enter industry awards. Not because it means they are a great business. Because the perception of the business in other people's eyes is that it's a great business.
You see, when people make a buying decision they are always assessing the level of risk associated with dealing with that company. They might talk with others, they might note the serious looking uniforms (!), they might notice the banner displayed announcing the company won a Business Award.
Highly influential
That last one is highly influential. An independent 3rd party providing an implied endorsement. Now that will reduced the level of perceived risk.
As consumers, we take our cues of businesses from factors that really have no bearing on the quality of a business.
* Is the restaurant clean?
* Does the doctor wear a white jacket?
* Is the salesperson smoking?
None of those aspects impact on the quality of service or product we'll receive. But we think they must. And it's on that we base our case.
Have a good weekend.
Brendon
[ comments ]
Used to live in NZ and had lots of fun at Scouts. It's not as popular over here but in those days we only had one channel on TV.