I Want My Garlic Mashed Potatoes!

This weekend I attended the wedding of two very close friends. Everything went great. The ceremony was awesome, the music was good, the wine flowed, and everybody had a wonderful time. Everything was perfect. Except for one teensy, tiny, miniscule little detail…

At the tables, the settings had cards that described what would be served for dinner, along with the entree options. The steak option (which I always take – consider yourself “RSVP’ed” if you invite me to your wedding…) said it was accompanied by “garlic mashed potatoes.”

Mmmmmmm, garlic mashed potatoes.

Yes, I do love me some garlic mashed potatoes. I have even been known to choose my entrees at restaurants based on the fact that one came with the garlic mash while others did not. On this menu, it was paired with the steak, so it seemed I was the big winner this night. Or so it seemed…

When my entree came out, there were no garlic mashed potatoes on my plate! No, there were in fact roasted potatoes. I am no high falutin’ culinarian, but I know the difference between mashed potatoes and roasted potatoes. And my roasted potatoes were not garlicky either.

I was saddened. I felt betrayed, bothered, and bewildered. I instantly leapt to my feet and started screaming at the staff, demanding my garlic mashed potatoes now!

Ok, I did no such thing. But I will say, I found myself craving garlic mashed potatoes all night (sad, I know, but I was looking forward to those!) . And I spoke to a few others in passing about, and they also noticed the “surreptitious swap” of the roasted potatoes for the mashed.

Will I refuse to ever step foot in that establishment again? No. Did this ruin the wedding or reception? No, of course not, the reception was fantastic. Did it ruin my night, or did I complain? No, because I am a fully functioning adult with a modicum of intelligence and perspective.

However, it did get me thinking about the concept of the expectations we set in our products and services. If the menu had said “roasted potatoes,” I would never have gotten a craving for garlic mash. If the menu had not mentioned potatoes at all, I would barely have noticed what kind of spuds came with my meal. But because the menu stated there would be garlic mashed potatoes, my expectations rose, which made me disappointed when they didn’t show up.

Not a big deal that night (You might say it was, “small potatoes.” But then you would have to turn in your humor card for making a terrible pun). But if you are in business and you create an expectation with a customer or prospect, you now must make sure to deliver on that expectation.

Lesson: Deliver on What You Promise

Some people like to suggest that you, “under-promise and over-deliver.” I don’t agree with that, because “under-promising” is a pretty terrible marketing strategy. But “realistically promising and over-delivering” is definitely a winning strategy. Whatever you choose to promise, the one thing you must never do is “under-deliver.” That’s a sure fire fast-track to failure.

Sometimes in our over eagerness to get a sale, please an irate customer, or impress a colleague or boss, we sometimes over-promise or promise things we don’t know we can deliver. No problem setting the bar high for yourself, but if you do, you better make darned sure you clear it. If not, you will look much worse than if you had never promised in the first place.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go mash up some potatoes and garlic (damned cravings…)