One of the key differentiators for any business is when it clearly conveys and demonstrates expertise. The more secure a prospect feels that you are fully in command of your subject, the more likely they are to rely on your expert advice to help them meet their objectives.
If they don't feel that confidence....
Goldcat had cause to visit a Well-Known Bookstore the very day before Lockdown 2, looking for a present to send a family member whose birthday was that weekend.
Bookshops are fantastic. Those packed shelves with their sense of endless possibility - gripping tales, fascinating lives, scholarly insights, endless learning.
In previous times, one of the delights of browsing this Well-Known Bookstore was the little hand-written notes dotted around the place. Each note would be pinned to the shelf underneath a particular title and had been written and signed by a member of staff. In a few lines, the various employees wrote what they had found most appealing about the book and why you might like to read it too.
This assured you as a potential customer that you were dealing with literary enthusiasts, people who derived real pleasure from their jobs through a love of books. There was a sense that you could ask any member of staff a question and be assured of their advice.
With that in mind, we were delighted to walk into Well-Known Bookstore last week and see that the hand-written notes were still a feature of the book displays. We walked over to the nearest one to see what it said.
The note, in its entirety, was a single line quoted from the novel's review in the Telegraph. We looked at another one; it was a short extract from an article about the book written by the Daily Mail's reviewer. The third note we saw comprised a laudatory quotation from a famous contemporary author - which was already prominently featured on the book's cover!
Where previously the handwritten notes imparted personalised advice and insight on a book from someone in the building who had actually read it, they were now merely biro transcriptions of newspaper columns and celebrity opinions.
What a disappointment. Why go to a bookstore for advice when you can just turn on your PC at home and access the same review material yourself?
The aura of expertise that Well-Known Bookstore had so successfully cultivated in us over the years had been damaged in just a few minutes. When that happens in a business, the thoughts of its customers tend to wander towards possible alternatives.
In the end, given the pressing nature of our purchase, we bought a store voucher as our present. "Ha ha ha," you might be saying, "they still got your money didn't they?"
Yes they did. The big question is, given that one of their Unique Selling Points has now gone, will they get any more of it in future?
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