Locusts After the Storm: A Marketing Lesson

Less than an hour after the tornado hit, the storm chasing opportunists showed up on our street…

…handing out business cards…

…offering to fly a drone over your house to assess the damage…

…promising to solve all your problems — quickly.

They said they had teams and supplies ready. They were on this. They knew what to do.

But I’d never seen this company before. As far as I knew, they’d never helped a single homeowner in my neighborhood. They descended like locusts — out of nowhere.

I didn’t bite.

I had a relationship with a great roofer. He and I spoke soon after the storm hit, and he promised his team would be there to help to dry-in the house before it rained again in three days.

I trusted and believed him because he had a proven track record.

Three immediate neighbors (one next door and two directly across the street) were among many on our street who went with the storm-chasing insects.

And when the rain came — 2.5 inches on Monday night — their houses flooded.

Unpatched holes. Rushed repairs that failed. Tarps that collapsed under the weight of the water.

The roofers had tried — sort of.

But as Monday afternoon turned to night, and rain clouds approached, the roofers threw up their hands and said, “Sorry, we can’t do it.”

Too many projects to complete in too little time.

A tragic case of overpromising and underdelivering

Legendary copywriter Gary Halbert once asked a bunch of marketers, “If you and I were to open up a hamburger stand, and we were competing, what advantage would you want?”

Halbert’s answer: “A starving crowd.”

Most of us have bumped into the starving prospect. Hungry. Desperate. Willing to say, “Yes! You’re hired,” if you say, “I’ll feed you.”

When you find a starving crowd, it’s tempting to promise to feed ’em all.

For some, the motives are pure. For others, not so much.

Either way, the promise is only as good as the delivery.

Marketing and sales is one thing. Fulfillment is another.