You can read what the Doorman Fallacy is in a thousand places online, we don’t need to cover it here. But we should talk about the doormen in your brand. Because there’s a lot more than you realise.

The receptionist isn’t just answering phones.
Your email auto reply isn’t just a placeholder.
Your social media or community manager isn’t just replying to comments.
And your error message on the password form isn’t just 3 words.

They’re representing your brand, the entire organisation.

Customers absolutely do not care about which departments you have, or what you’ve empowered and asked people to do. What they are going to do is use small interactions and build a perception of your brand.

Every public reply becomes a part of your reputation. That covers all the simple things like how you greet people, how long you leave them waiting, or whether you check spelling and grammar. I checked this article twice so…

But it also includes every time a doorman opens a door for them. It includes every time they say or do something and how your brand shows up. And in more ways than just “were they polite”. The way you show up sends a message about capability, like the doorman sends a message by being in front of the building.

You can choose how you’re going to be perceived. 

This is not about the words you use, or whether you’re polite enough. It’s about the heart of your organisation and how you *are*. It’s about your responsiveness, professionalism, and whether you’re going to be there for them in 6 months or not.

Answering comments on weekends or after hours tells people how often you’re around, which suggests when you’ll be there when they’re in crisis. The same goes for not moderating spam, harassment and abuse.

The way you engage with tough conversations isn’t just about whether someone thinks it will happen to them, it’s about how you appear to carry yourself.

Does it look like your brand is reacting emotionally and taking things personally? Not a reassuring message for potential customers or anyone that might need you later on.

Everything from mentions of competitors, gifs you allow on your page to how often you update errors or issues and your opening hours, tells people how you operate.

It tells them what the building is behind the doors and everything the doorman does is telling the same story.

Who are you.

Frontline, does not mean low level.

So be wary of handing policies to the doorman that your customers don’t know about.

It’s easy to write an internal policy saying “there’s no need to answer when someone spams their comment 7 times”, but it’s a lot harder to recognise that policy is meaningless to the customers who encounter the 6 you obviously didn’t answer and have no idea the other comments even existed.

Organisations spend millions shaping how they want to be perceived, then underinvest in the people customers actually meet. And that’s what customers see. It might be the only thing they see.

No one knows why you chose not to give the doorman an umbrella, but they’re all going to notice he’s soaking wet.