A friend of mine, whose son I’ve coached over the years, visited our Web site last week and asked me about our tagline. He’s an engineer and has a practical nuts and bolts mindset.
“What’s with the “enthusiastic” tagline? What does that have to do with your business?,” he asked.
I knew the answer like it was etched in my brain with a giant Sharpie, but rather than try to explain the justification process that got us there, I wanted to help him figure it out so it would stick. It’s never too late to teach an old dog or middle-aged engineer new tricks.
“Did you ever meet someone who was totally engaging and truly happy to be talking with you?,” I asked.
Interestingly, he had an example right away. “Sure, there is this kid working at our local Domino’s. Every time I walk in the place she sings out with a big ‘hello’ and ‘Here for pick up again?’ – always smiling, always a bright spot even when it looks like chaos in the back, they’re all that way.”
Nice, this is going to be easier than I thought. “So, do you go there a lot?”
“Yea, I go there all the time. It’s close, fast, hot and my kids eat it like they’re breathing air.”
“What about Pizza Hut or Imo’s?” (a local St. Louis favorite)
“No, mostly Domino’s, it’s not any closer, just … I don’t know, just easier.”
“Really? You sure? What about the reception you have when you go there? Don’t you feel like you matter, like you’re important?”
“Sure – good customer service, happy employees, positive people. But what does that have to do with your company? You guys do cool trucks and events.”
We get that all the time. It’s like telling someone from NASA, “You guys launch rockets.” The fact is it’s the people behind and in the rocket who make it all worthwhile.
“True, but those are just tools we use to get attention out in the world. We help companies create relationships with customers using great “enthusiastic” people – people like your Domino’s guys.”
“Ah, makes sense.”
“People relate to enthusiastic people because it’s personal, it’s real and when you can look someone in the eye you can tell if they believe in what they’re doing. That’s why “pure enthisiasm” is our tagline.“
Just when I was wrapping up this blog post, we had three employees from the local Smoothie King drop by our office with free Smoothies for everyone in our company. A local school had over-ordered and they had to give them away. They had seen our logo and tagline on the front of our building and said they wanted to meet the “Pure Enthusiasm” people and find out what we did. I love good branding.
One engineer and three smoothie chefs converted, ten million people to go.