Customers and the Emperor’s New Clothes
How to use brutal feedback to win and retain customers in times of crisis
The story
Most of you will be familiar with The Emperor’s New Clothes: a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. In this article I’ll show you how to apply its lessons to winning and retaining customers during times of crisis.
A quick recap: an emperor, famous for his vanity, gets scammed by a couple of con-men masquerading as tailors.
They convince the emperor that they can make him the finest robes the world has ever seen: so fine, in fact, that they would be invisible to stupid people.
The emperor is sold on the proposal, the tailors set to work, and the emperor parades his new “clothes” on the streets in front of hundreds of people.
Not wanting to either embarrass the emperor, or themselves, the crowds go along with the illusion until suddenly a child pops out of the crowd and yells:
“THAT MAN’S NAKED!”
The people realise what’s wrong, but the emperor continues parading himself, completely oblivious to what they are thinking and feeling.
