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I’m not buying it.

4/15/2009

1 Comment

 
Posted by BJ
At my gym, when a piece of equipment is broken they put a sign on it that reads, “Making improvements”. These signs appear fairly regularly though I hadn’t really noticed them before (except on the rare occasion that one is on a piece of equipment I wish to use.

I did notice one of these signs when I saw it on a urinal in the men’s bathroom and it made me stop and think (about more than “Gee, I hope there’s another urinal available!”).

When I did stop and think about these signs, what came to mind was, “If a piece of equipment is broken and in need of repairs, is that really something I’d consider an improvement?  I mean, making a urinal functional is hardly an improvement. I’d consider it a basic expectation or “given” rather than an improvement.

I greatly dislike like the idea of equipment undergoing repairs being presented to me as an “improvement” and something for which I should be grateful. An improvement would be renovating the facility, bringing in new equipment, adding new products to the café, etc.

Fixing a broken toilet is “making improvements”? As the tile says, “I’m not buying it.”

It’s worth considering what you might be inadvertently trying to “sell” within your proposal that the client has reasonable right to expect or take as a “given”.​
1 Comment
Mike White
3/26/2016 02:18:09 am

Hear, hear BJ. We all need to go about our daily routines holding people accountable without being an &^* about it. I’m sure there’s a worker out there that’s willing and able to fix the gym equipment and the urinal if the owners of those items weren’t so apathetic. I’ll keep an eye out for your analogy as I develop my next proposal. Best, Mike

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