A week ago today, I went shopping with my daughter.
One of the stores we went in had huge clumps of dust under the racks. I counted over twenty-five items on the floor. One employee was hanging up garments that had been tried on and left in the fitting rooms. He walked right past the clothes that were on the floor. Two employees were chatting at the register.
I thought, “Can’t you see how dirty your store is? Did your mother never teach you how to use a broom?”
I usually will pick up a garment if I find one laying on the floor. I didn’t this time, there were too many.
If you owned this store wouldn’t you want to know what it looked like? I sent an email to the head office. They sent me back a standard form letter.
“Blah, blah, blah, thank you for your comment.”
A company may have a good marketing plan. The products may be well made. The stores may be in a good location. The Board of Directors thinks they have everything thought through.
And all the best plans may fail if someone doesn’t use a broom.
I didn’t buy anything.
I walked out of the story with my money in my purse. The store felt dirty; the clothes felt dirty. Had the garment I wanted to buy been laying on the floor in a pile of dust?
The marketing plan failed because someone forgot to sweep.
