Lessons From the “World’s Best Cannoli”

Have you ever been sucked in by marketing hype? Don’t be embarrassed if you have – I have too, even when I knew exactly what was going on…

This past weekend I was out of town running some errands with a friend. We had some time to kill so we walked up and down the “main street” type road that had lots of small businesses on it.

At one point we came across a bakery that had the following sign in the window:

World’s Best Cannoli? Hmm, intriguing. I really like cannolis. They are probably in my top three favorite desserts.

What’s interesting is that we had just finished a big lunch, and I really wasn’t hungry. Also, I had seen the bakery from a distance as we approached, and though the thought of walking in crossed my mind, I didn’t really a feel a strong desire to get anything.

But, once I saw the “World’s Best Cannoli” sign, I suddenly thought to myself, “well then, I must try one of these cannolis.

This led me to the first thing I learned that day:

Hyperbole Works

The sign said, “World’s Best,” so I figured I had to try it. Of course, there was no attribution on the sign. It didn’t say, “according to Food and Wine Magazine,” or “Voted Best Cannoli on ItalianDesserts.com.” Nope. The entire sign had just three words: “World’s Best Cannoli.” Basically, it was just the owner saying “hey, our cannolis are the best in the world.!”

Did I believe that the owner had gone on an exhaustive worldwide cannoli tasting tour, after which he objectively concluded that his was, in fact, the world’s best? No, of course not. I figured it was much more likely that they guy had never traveled further then 25 miles away from is home in his entire life, but I still felt compelled to try his cannoli (that sounds far dirtier than it should…).

We go into the store, and when the woman behind the counter asks if she can help me I ask, “do you, in fact, have the world’s best cannoli?”

The woman glances around and says, “honestly? No.”

This led me to the second thing I learned that day:

It’s Good To Get Your Entire Team On Board With Your Branding And Marketing

This woman clearly was not the owner. Or, if she was, she was definitely not the person who put the sign in the window (which would be a weird thing for an owner to not have control over). If you want to market yourself as having “the world’s best cannoli,” you may want to make sure everyone in you organization or group is behind that plan. Otherwise your team will be undercutting your efforts.

I was not expecting her to tell me it wasn’t the world’s best, but at this point I was much well down the path to cannoli craving land…

“Hmm, well, is the cannoli still good?”

“Oh yeah, it’s good.”

Excellent. I bought the cannoli and went outside to eat it.

Was the cannoli good? Yes. World's Best? Not so much...

I took my first bite and my friend asks, “so, is it the world’s best cannoli?”

No. No it was not.

“No. It’s really good, but it’s not the world’s best. It’s not even the best cannoli I’ve ever eaten.”

At this point I realized I was really enjoying this cannoli. Rather than being disappointed that it wasn’t the greatest cannoli ever, I was just enjoying it for what it was: a solidly tasty baked treat.

This led me to the third thing I learned that day:

Expectations Matter

I think The bakery counter woman telling me that this was not the world’s best cannoli lowered my expectations. I was expecting to be disappointed, so when I tried it and it was actually good, I was pleasantly surprised. If I had gone in to the bakery and just ordered the cannoli without asking the woman about it, and then eaten it hoping to taste the world’s best, I think I would have had a very different evaluation of it.

Same cannoli, different expectations, different results.

While one of my earlier points was that the business owner should get his or her employees on the same page, I actually benefited from her honesty. And in some ways, so too could her establishment.

This led me to the fourth thing I learned that day:

Honesty Counts

I wasn’t mad that I had been misled by advertising. Not that I would be really fired up over a cannoli, but even though it wasn’t the world’s best I still left there with a favorable impression of the bakery. I probably would not have if I had not have had that exchange with the employee.

I like to ask for recommendations from my server in restaurants, but I often wonder if they are being honest when they tell me what’s good or if they are just trying to steer me to something more expensive or something they were told to “push” by their manager. I really like it when a server honestly tells me what they don’t like. If they highly recommend an expensive item or one of the day’s specials and I get it and don’t like, I am much more likely to feel duped.

(This does remind me of the one time I do feel was misled and got pretty annoyed by it. I was in New York, and my friends and I wanted to see a musical, but we didn’t know which one. The hotel had one of those channels that tells you about all the shows in the city. The ads for “Chicago” said it was a “fun, high energy murder mystery musical.” Well that sounds like fun! Boy was I wrong. You would be hard pressed to find any evidence demonstrating that Chicago was a “murder mystery.” We went in expecting one thing and got…something very, very different. The advertising would have been far more accurate if it had said, “if you don’t like watching hours and hours of Fossey dance numbers, you will quickly want to scratch your own eyes out from sheer boredom.” But I’m not bitter…)

In any case, a little honesty goes a long way. The employee’s honesty helped my experience and allowed me to leave with a good memory of my cannoli. The bakery owner could follow suit and change the sign to “best cannoli in town,” or something else, but he probably won’t. He may very well believe he has the world’s best cannoli. (There’s that confidence thing I talked about in my Why Stupid People Succeed post)

Here are two quick takeaway lessons for you from my experience:

For Businesses: Packaging, Descriptions, Advertising, Etc. Matter

One sign, true or not, was enough to get my attention and get me in the door. In your own business, are your packaging, advertising, and product/service descriptions enticing enough to draw people in? I’m not suggesting you lie, but take some time to make your stuff appealing before people buy from you.

For Consumers: Be Wary Of Packaging

As a consumer, don’t be fooled by flowery words and grand claims. I logically knew that there was no way this would be the world’s best cannoli, but I still wanted to try it. Smart marketers, advertisers, and business owners understand this. As an intelligent consumer, be aware of these tactics and don’t be sucked in by them!

***
Do you want your next event to be awesome? Then visit Avish’s Motivational Humorist page now!
 

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By Avish Parashar. As the world's only Motivational Improviser, Avish uses techniques from the world of improv comedy to engage, entertain, and educate audiences on ideas around change, creativity, and motivation. Connect with Avish on Google+

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