Word of Mouth: Then & Now
In our house there is a coffee table book called, “The 100 Most Important Events & People of the Past 1,000 Years.” Number #56 recently caught my attention: in the year 1120 A.D., the first restaurants were documented in Kaifeng, China — the nation’s capital during that era.
According to the journals of 12th century Chinese bureaucrat Meng Yuanlao, “arguably the first restaurant reviewer,” a high premium was placed on customer service in this emerging industry:
“Even the slightest mistake was reported to the head of the restaurant, who would curse the waiter or dock his salary or, in extreme cases, drive him from the place.”
Note the virtuous cycle of EXPECTATION in this example. The patrons of the establishment felt no hesitation to report even the smallest breaches of conduct or product quality. The restauranteurs were quick and vicious in their responsiveness to customers’ complaints. I imagine that the waitstaff and cooks were largely meticulous, humble and attentive as a result.
Why were the restaurant owners so responsive? Why did they often upbraid their staff right in front of the aggrieved customers? Perhaps because these new establishments represented a new, untested and highly dynamic approach to service … The restauranteurs understood early on that Word of Mouth would make or break their fortunes.
We live in a mu
ch more complex society today. However, the “Word travels fast” mentality of 12th century China is represented all over again in the echo chambers of Social Media.
Feedback is now frictionless. It’s so easy. It’s so impactful. Reactions to a company’s products & services can be written, published and indexed by Google within an hour — exposing the review, as well as the business owner’s response, to millions of would-be customers. As Web-connected mobile devices become ever-more ubiquitous, this will only get faster, easier, and scarier.
What will these highly empowered consumers say about your business? What will you do to respond? Will you even be listening?
I’ll bet those restauranteurs in 12th century Kaifeng would leap at the chance.
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RT @TDefren: Want good Word of Mouth? Think like a 12th century Chinese restauranteur! [link to post] -
RT @tdefren Want good Word of Mouth? Think like a 12th century Chinese restauranteur! [link to post] (i.e. WOM isn’t new) -
#LunchTimeRead- @TDefren on word of mouth: [link to post] -
. @tdefren gives us a history lesson on Chinese word of mouth marketing [link to post] -
Word of Mouth: Then & Now: According to the journals of 12th century Chinese bureaucrat Meng Yuanlao, “argua.. [link to post] -
Lessons fr ancient Chinese restaurateurs RT @TomPick @FYIndOut Word of Mouth:Then and Now @tdefren [link to post] -
Word of Mouth:Then and Now. Great post by @tdefren [link to post] -
RT @FYIndOut Word of Mouth:Then and Now. Great post by @tdefren [link to post]
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The crucial element is what happens between companies listening to what’s being said about them online and how they rectify the issues. If not, they’ll eventually run dry of people to “drive from the place”, as in the case of the hapless Chinese waiters.
People looking for something will usually start with one or two things:
1) Ask their buddies for recommendations for the best mechanic, hotel, or database management system. Those buddies include friends, neighbors, Twitter followers and LinkedIn connections.
2) Google, Bing and/or Twitter search “best restaurant in location X” or “affordable CRM for small business.” Word of mouth is now Word of keyboard and smartphone.
Feedback is indeed faster and scarier, and more pervasive than ever. If you’re going to excel, you need to listen and plan for feedback so that you can respond, exceed expectations. Nice post, thanks for sharing.
Feedback is frictionless OK and there is already lots of feedback, which is the case for any hotel or restaurant nowadays.
And for any of these restaurants you always get a mix of positive, negative and neutral. The issue is no longer the feedback as such but who wrote it, the objectivity of the writer, whether his/her expectations were the same as yours and his influence.
Moreover most businesses don’t have millions of would be customers and some businesses have been very successful “being nice” to only a very small fraction of the people (take Benetton as an example with its controversial ads).
Positioning is more than ever key and the response required is more than “fire fighting” on any negative tweet that pops up.
While it is true that most businesses don’t have millions of would-be customers, it is also true that, increasingly, few prospective customers will experience a company’s products/services without first Googling/Yelping/Amazoning them. I think that that is worth our attention.
Hi Todd,
Thanks for your reply. I agree with your point that many people will get first impression thru google/yelp & amazon.
I also hope & believe many people will experience services and products thru Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, and any type of well organized readers whether personal or professional.
This, to me has more value as the source of the recommendation is somehow related to me either as an influencer from my community of interest of from my personal network.
Best
Your article makes a strong case for businesses to monitor what is said about them online. We find that many businesses are oblivious to this basic knowledge and sometimes the case is that they just don’t have the time to engage in addressing it.
I think word of mouth is especially critical for industries such as restaurants. Wouldn’t you rather go to a restaurant you hear your peers and colleagues raving about… as opposed to looking it up online? Any competitor can get on line and ruin a reputation with a mere allegation of mistreatment or any other restaurant faux pas. Who’s opinion will you trust more? Today’s blog was a great reminder of how important word of mouth is. Making and breaking restaurants daily.
The effects of word of mouth marketing/advertising are absolutely amazing. Just look at Yelp and the effects that it has. Making sure that you get a positive review via WOM can be more important than any other advertising that you may do.