The Sanford Berenberg Experience: Message of the Day

Monday, April 12, 2010

Message of the Day - How We Describe it

Good Morning,

Last night I went out to Wal-Mart to pick up hair care products for my daughters and knowing the 50 million different products available by each and every manufacturer, I asked them to write down on a piece of paper what...exactly...they wanted me to get for them as I:

A. Did not want to get the wrong product
B. Have to call home to find out more information about the product and look like a fool in front of the other shoppers who would undoubtedly know the right product they wanted with no trouble at all.
C. Get frustrated and go home empty handed, which would be followed with a: 'If you had only called..."

The first product was a conditioner for my older daughter. This was described as follows:

"Lime green bottle - Garnier Fructis, smooth/straight/silky conditioner (something along these lines). " - That last note made me think I was in a little trouble.

So I went to Wally World and I got to the hair care products isle and to my horror there are like 20 different types of Garnier Fructis products. And to my surprise all but four were lime green. I am happy that narrowed the field. Luckily, Garnier had mercy on me and made all the Conditioner bottles vastly different from their shampoos (they are effectively upside-down).

This made me slightly happy in that I have bought conditioner thinking it was shampoo, only to be surprised in the shower when there was no lathering to be had...

Looking for smooth, straight or silky I found silky on most products and smooth on most of the products, and not a single bottle had the word 'straight' in the description.

I looked and looked and finally I broke down, knowing that if I was not home within the next 15 minutes, I was getting a call anyway, I chose unwanted option B and called home. Luckily, I reached my younger daughter. I asked her to find an existing bottle of the conditioner I was looking for and to read it to me.

After we established what I was looking for was the name of the product and not starting from the words at the top of the bottle and working down I was able to find the right one. It was 'Sleek & Shine' for Frizzy, Dry, Unmanageable Hair.

Lets see:

Smooth, Straight, Silky

meant:

Frizzy, Dry, Unmanageable

Even with descriptions, even clear ones, and I know this was clear because anyone else in my family would have been able to pinpoint the right product in seconds, without the need for a call, there are times that we just cannot establish understanding within our communication.

Knowing our audience helps, in which case, my daughter should have given me the old bottle as any description which did not include pictures would make my task harder.

I guess it is all in how we describe it.

Enjoy!