How did the joke go? When you finished eating the pizza, you could eat the box, because it tasted about the same. Unfortunately for Domino’s, customers weren’t joking. By 2008, customer research confirmed what many people already believed.
Patrick Doyle arrived as CEO and admitted as much about the cardboard box. They used real customer testimonials to support the claim about the cardboard. This story isn’t about the remaking of a pizza recipe. The real story is what did Patrick Doyle have to believe to publicly admit the findings of their internal customer surveys?
Customers didn’t suddenly trust Domino’s because the pizza improved. They trusted Domino’s because the company admitted it had a problem. The new recipe simply made that honesty believable.
Translate that shift in management belief to observable behaviors.
- Publicly acknowledged the problem.
- Changed the recipe.
- Invited criticism instead of hiding from it.
- Invited customers to judge their pizza again.
Most companies believe their job is to protect the brand. Patrick Doyle appeared to believe something different. “Protect the customer’s trust.”
What would your company have to admit before customers trusted you more?
The two posts, the Nordstrom and the Dominoes case, are powerful reminders of having leaders in business who are prepared to take the difficult decision in the face of customer scrutiny.
In my past life I served as in-house legal counsel and must unfortunately admit that we were trained and expected to advise management never, ever to admit anything! Today as an OD consultant and with many years of personal growth under my belt, I am more convinced than ever, that the fundamental principle of Elliott’s RO theory, accountability and decision making, goes a long way to mange the culture in an organisation.