Ample Customer Parking: Batman Signage in a University World

When we pulled into the parking lot at the car dealership we had to laugh. Directly in front of our car was a large sign that read, “Ample Customer Parking.” The same message sat squarely in front of every parking spot. “Ample Customer Parking” – repeated 50 times – all over the lot.

“It’s the Bat Cave!” we said. Because in the 1960s live-action television version of Batman, every item carried a carefully concise label: the Bat pole, the Bat computer, the Bat chemical analyzer, Batmobile parking. Pretty funny.

We didn’t think much more about all those signs.

Until, that is, we got the survey. Our salesman told us we’d be getting a customer satisfaction packet -- that his dealership prided itself on extremely high customer satisfaction ratings. He’d really appreciate it, he said, if we’d take the time to fill out the survey and send it back.

You guessed it. On that survey was the question, “Did your dealership provide ample customer parking?”.

Of course it did. The signs told us so. We laughed, but it was also true.

Would the parking have been ample without those signs? Probably. Would we have thought about it as much when we filled out that survey? Probably not.

We can take a lesson from Batman and from the car dealership. Communicate frequently. Make the message redundant. Keep the signs up. That way, there’s no mistaking.

Ample customer parking? Yeah, we got that.