What it says on the tin

I wrote a post a few days ago arguing of the need for a seller of services (in this case drama classes) to manage the expectation of the buyer. Suzie, who blogs about cooking but knows about many things, disagreed in comments.

The essence of her argument was caveat emptor ('let the buyer beware') and in a strict legal sense she is 100% correct. The marketer in me despairs.

To build a brand you have to do what you say you do

Any recourse to caveat emptor is a brand damaged. Every comic who grabs a cheap laugh with a line like "What did you expect for five quid?" weakens his own brand and that of the entire night.

So much has been written about 'delighting customers' and 'exceeding expectations' and so on but at the heart of it is this: -

If you sell me X and I get X+Y then I should be delighted

If you sell me X but give me Y then let's hope you get lucky