Alla and I love bringing our furbabies, Percy, Rocco, Diana, and Foster to new places, so we always call ahead and make sure the place we’re going to is dog-friendly. Even if it says so in their website, we still call or message just to be extra sure. We’ve learned from the past that some have hidden conditions.
We’ve heard it all -
“We’re dog friendly as long as your dogs do not bark.” 🤨 “We’re dog friendly but they can’t swim in the sea.” 😩 “We’re dog friendly but you can’t bring them inside your rooms.” 😤
It’s practically saying, “We’re trying to attract your market-base but we really don’t know you at all.” “We kind of want to say we’re ‘this’ because it’s gaining popularity but we really don’t want you here.” “We tried this but there was time when we had [INSERT BAD EXPERIENCE HERE].”
We all need policies in our business. It helps us to have a standard and manage expectations.
The problem starts when policies come from fear.
It becomes extreme and we forget the people that we are trying to serve.
Instead of focusing on giving them a great experience and them giving you respect, you alienate them. Alienating people is one of the stealthy things that can break your business.
When you create your policies, ask yourself these questions:
Is this policy based from a single or minute number of incidents?
Is this policy alienating the people I am trying to serve?
Does this policy drive away people?
Does this policy actually make us a better company?
Look at your answers. If you answered YES to any of the first 3 questions above or a NO to last question, you’ve got to re-think that policy of yours.
