Image is not everything

I deal with many clients, all who are working on their public image. Some want to be known as “the best” or “the biggest”, while others want to be known as “the most intimate” or “mom and pop”. Each one is correct because image setting is completely up to the owner of the company.

I can make the smallest company look big, and the biggest company look small. All it takes are the right words hooked together and placed strategically.

But it’s what happens after the words are crafted that really makes the difference. Let’s take a real life example.

I was in Waikiki over the new year. The hotel I stayed in was right on the beach and you could see the tourists just bustling and bursting. After all, this was their Hawaii vacation. It was going to be romantic. The natives were going to dance the hula whenever and wherever possible. The sun would brighten their day and the moonlight would guide their feet along sandy beaches.

After all, that’s what the Hawaii Visitor’s Bureau advertises. Hawaii is a lover’s paradise. A family adventure. A relaxed island setting. Something for everyone.

I’m not knocking it. The image that the HVB paints is fantastic and, for the most part, true. Hawaii is a paradise. And I would not live anywhere else. I love it here.

So the image is good. It’s truth.

But here is what I saw as I looked at it like a tourist:

The first morning, I passed the activities desk and saw an employee who clearly wasn’t happy to be working on New Year’s Day. She didn’t smile. Didn’t greet anyone. Stopped short of throwing things around her desk, but it was very clear she didn’t want to be there. Someone asked her directions and her reply was short and clipped.

I continued to the sundries shop where a German couple was having difficulty explaining what they wanted to a clerk who didn’t speak the language. Instead of using nonverbal cues and pantomime to figure out what they wanted, the clerk got frustrated and louder and louder. Her tone of voice is one used when someone is clearly an idiot. Certainly this couple was not the only non-English-speaking people this clerk would encounter that day.

There were more scenes I witnessed during my two-day hotel stay. But I think I made my point.

Image is image. Once it is set, you need to back it up. Or there will be a lot of buyer’s remorse. You may get the first sale, but you will not get any repeat business.

The German couple came to Hawaii thinking about flowers, beaches, mountains, and hula dancing. They experienced a surly, unfriendly, local female clerk.

Mismatch.

Did the German couple have other experiences that will outweigh this one bad one? We can only hope. We shouldn’t take the chance, though.

So here is today’s lesson:

Image is nothing if you can’t back it up. If you want your image to be friendly and welcoming, then your employees must be friendly and welcoming. One sour employee can create a lasting impression. A poorly-written newsletter can ruin a carefully crafted image, too.

They say the devil is in the details. My grandma always said that if you mind the details, the big picture will take care of itself.