Robert Woodruff was a truck salesman who got poor grades in school, but by 34 he became the CEO of Coca-Cola and turned a pharmacy elixir into one of America’s best-known consumer brands. How did he do it? By focusing on keeping customers happy and making the drink the best it could be through consistency.
One day as a new CEO he called all his salespeople together and told them they were all fired. He went on to say that the company had created some new positions and anyone interested could attend a meeting the following day and apply for some of the new jobs. You can imagine the conversations that went on that night. The next day Robert said the new role was that of “serviceman”, stressing that service to customers was now job number one. The drama of the firing and a night to think about it made the message stick. Next, he took a tour of the bottling plant.
He noticed broken glass behind machines and dust and sticky syrup just about everywhere. He instructed the plant manager to have the entire plant cleaned top to bottom by morning or find another job. The plant manager protested, saying it would not do any good to clean everything because the bottling process was messy, and the plant would look the same by the end of the day tomorrow. Undaunted, Mr. Woodruff told him “You wipe your ass every time you shit don’t you,” and walked out.
To improve the consistency to the consumer he then set up a fountain drink training school. The program stressed that the product had to be served at exactly 34 degrees, had to be served with crushed ice, and had to be served in a specially designed bell-shaped glass for optimum flavor. Robert Woodruff knew that he had a good product, but to grow as a business Coca-Cola had to make sure both that the product quality was the first rate and that the customer experience was consistent.
Next, he made sure all trucks were the same red color and even standardized the drivers’ uniforms. He made sure advertising was consistent. Robert Woodruff understood the power of a dramatic effect to make a message stick. He knew that success lay in customer perception, and that customer perception would ultimately drive customer demand.
Do you use a dramatic effect to make people remember? How focused is your business on the customer experience?
