22 September 2020
Beauty might be skin deep but brand value isn’t
When we talk about the brand value we tend to think about all the things that are client-facing or have a direct impact on the client. However, to create authentic brand value, we have to start internally, with business culture and a team who really believe in what they’re doing or selling. What we’re seeing a lot of this year however, is a seismic change in how that internal value is generated and how its effectiveness, or lack thereof, has a big impact on customer experience and consequently customer retention.
When we talk about the brand value we tend to think about all the things that are client-facing or have a direct impact on the client. However, to create authentic brand value, we have to start internally, with business culture and a team who really believe in what they’re doing or selling. What we’re seeing a lot of this year however, is a seismic change in how that internal value is generated and how its effectiveness, or lack thereof, has a big impact on customer experience and consequently customer retention.
Businesses are beginning to have conversations with both their staff and their clients that they have never had before. There are discussions around whether they want to go back to work in the office, how they go back to work, whether they feel safe and working in a new way. People are in bubbles, at social distances, and also have not been in the same space as one another for the greater part of 2020.
As a result, the previous culture, which was built around the euphemistic coffee machine hasn’t been there for months and is probably not going to be there for many more months to come. In most organisations, that internal business culture will have taken a great big dent, and many of the tools for rebuilding it will have been removed.
Moving forward we may be looking at a shift based way of working in order to facilitate social distancing or a greater level of remote working. Equally, customer relations are likely to be more remote. So, how do you establish a sense of brand culture and value internally as you adapt to the changes you are currently living with or are set to make?
Think about what you need to do at every level
What Covid has highlighted, if you didn’t know it before, is that in order to function effectively and successfully you have to pay attention to all levels of operation - you can’t skip the groundwork. While lots of businesses have simply focused on the basic things they need to do to open this year, they haven’t necessarily considered the rest of the service beyond that. While we all understand that much of this year has been a makeshift exercise, we now need to look beyond that. It’s Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, where until previous conditions have been satisfied you can’t self actualise. Start with the things that you have to do in order to open (be Covid secure) and take the process all the way through to what is actually going to allow you to be successful in the longer term focusing on customer satisfaction and retention.
Think strategically about the way you operate and communicate
Businesses need to do a proper assessment of their organisation and how it runs, and see what remains relevant in today’s new business culture. That might result in big changes or nuanced ones. You need to think strategically about how your business is going to operate internally and externally to make sure that both your team and your customers are engaged and feel supported. Internally, whatever technology you use, you mustn’t forget the human connection and what it means to your clients and your staff. That’s everything from what you say on the phone and the regularity of your communications to the hold music; if it was irritating for 10 minutes before and now you have customers waiting for 45 minutes on the phone, imagine what that’s going to do to the way they feel about you!
Get your team engaged
You have to communicate with your team and think about things from their perspective. What do you say to the member of staff who doesn’t want to come into the office at all because they’re frightened? Or despite the fact that you have extremely busy phone lines, what do you do to both support your team and consequently provide a better experience for customers? Be empathetic with them. Recognise that many customers will be angry and upset because of frustrations over recent months. Make sure your team has a framework in which to handle that, that goes beyond saying ‘in these difficult times’ - a refrain which people are going to soon find to be a glib and disingenuous catch-all for any customer service failings. Business leaders need to take the lead in making sure their members of staff feel positive, supported, valued, understood and seen. Of being prepared and empowered to accept responsibility to address customer grievances.
Honest conversations with your clients
Really think about what you’re saying to clients. While we all know that these are ‘strange’ and ‘difficult’ times, after nine months or so we’re all getting a little bored with hearing these words. Unfair as that might be, we are heading into a space where we need to learn to operate to reasonable standards in this new environment. While blanket responses were fine at the start, there’s now time to think a bit more cleverly about how you handle different situations. There’s a whole catalogue of companies we can think of who have made an unhappy customer into a seething customer by handling their frustration badly. For example, the airlines who said you could refund your flights but buried the link so far into the website that no one could find it without the support of forensic analysis. Think about the customer experience and if things are going to take longer than usual, consider how you are going to handle that so that it becomes an opportunity to build rather than break client relationships.
There’s no one way to build brand value, and there’s no one way to connect with your team. However, recognising the connection between the experience your team has and the one your customers have, is the beginning of rebuilding relationships with those who have become disenfranchised and generating positive relationships with new customers as well.
I have more than 40 years’ experience helping businesses to build and capitalise on brand value. If you would like to discuss how to support your business moving forward, contact me using the details below.
The article was originally published on LinkedIn.