Think back to the day Princess Diana died and
the subsequent outpouring of grief. I remember watching the news and the
incredible queues of people waiting to sign a book of condolences. Some people
waited up to eight hours.
I thought at the time, ‘but you didn’t really
know her. She was a stranger to you.’ Then the reported began talking to the
people in the queue and each had a story to tell about the princess. She once visited
their school; she headed up a charity that was important to them, she replied
to a letter.
Every person felt they had a personal
connection to her in some way. She literally had, in her short lifetime touch
millions of lives.
So how does this relate to Tesco? Well quite
simply over the years they have p*ssed off a lot of people – and people are
consumers. Every time they have land banked, or forced through a Tesco Metro in an area that didn’t want it they
created a negative vibes against them.
The drip feed of good or bad vibes builds over
time and one day reaches a critical mass and when that happens there appears to
be an overnight high or low.
For Tesco this has been brewing for a long
time and now they need to learn from the late Princess how to make people love
you. It may not be too late if:
Lesson one: they learn to listen to the people
– i.e. the consumer.
Lesson two: remember the British Caledonian motto, ‘We Never Forget You Have a Choice.’
And lesson three: never, ever tell fibs. You will always get found out and people will no longer trust you.
Lesson two: remember the British Caledonian motto, ‘We Never Forget You Have a Choice.’
And lesson three: never, ever tell fibs. You will always get found out and people will no longer trust you.
