Colin Shaw urges you to ensure that your branding and marketing activities are aligned with your Customer experience.I work with a client in the North of England. Whenever I visit them I always stay at the same hotel. At this hotel their slogan is “We never say No”. All the employees wear badges saying “We never say no”, and there are even posters and flyers in your room saying the same thing. So ask yourself this, do you think the people “never say no”? Of course not! This is marketing hype, and so far from reality it’s ridiculous.

The contrast is vivid. You talk to an employee who is saying “No” to you about something and yet their badge tells you that they “never say no”. You hear customers point out the inconsistencies - “I would like a non-smoking room, are there any available?”. The employee replies “no, I’m sorry they are all gone” - and inevitably the customer says “but I thought you never said no”?. The employees get into games saying everything but the word “no” like “not really” or “that is not possible” to avoid saying the word “no”.

I’ve actually heard an employee say, I didn’t say no, I said “not really”. It becomes like the game show where you cannot say the words “yes” or “no”. It made me think, “what are the brand values of this company?”. Given the scenario above I guess they maybe:1. Create and expectation that is not fulfilled2. Treat customers as if they are stupidNow clearly these are not their brand values. But why have a slogan that is so obviously incapable of being implemented?These examples are all around us. Only this week I wanted to buy some travel insurance.

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