Branding and the Customer Experience
What's your brand synonymous with?
What makes a customer's experience with a brand great?
And, what makes it awful?
Think back to your own experiences. When were you wowed with a service experience or, conversely, deeply disappointed?
I had a "wow" service experience when the bulb in my car's brake lights burned out. I dreaded having to take my car into the repair shop, and on a whim I stopped at the nearby Shell gasoline station to see if I could purchase a replacement bulb and do the job myself.
The no-nonsense mechanic, with a bushy moustache and grease-smeared coveralls, took a look. Quietly and efficiently, he replaced the bulb in just a couple of minutes. I had neglected to ask him how much this service would cost. To my surprise, he charged me only the cost of light bulb.
My reaction? Wow! I will definitely consider this Shell station for car tune-ups, and now I buy all my gasoline there as well.
At the other extreme, I had a miserable experience at the Department of Motor Vehicles. I received a notice in the mail saying that I had to go in person to the DMV office to renew my driver's license. When I arrived at the DMV on a Saturday morning, I couldn't believe the crowd of irritable people waiting there. The people in line in front of me were clearly not happy at having to stand and wait, and were mumbling under their breath about the dreadful lack of prompt service.
After thirty-five minutes in line, I finally met face-to-face with a service rep, and the renewal process went smoothly.
All of us have our own examples of great and terrible experiences as customers. These delightful and dreadful stories show that a brand stands for much more than a name, logo or image.
And a brand means much more than its products and service features. Brands are built from nothing less than the sum total of a customer's experiences with a product, service delivery or organization. Customers' total brand experience will determine whether they will buy anything more from the organization and, just as importantly, whether they'll spread awesome or awful word-of-mouth to friends and family.
Let's use the following metaphor as one way of thinking about a brand's multifaceted nature: you're house-hunting, and a brand is a house you're considering for purchase.
Certainly, you want the house to have a solid foundation. (The foundation of a strong brand is customer insight and metrics.) Naturally, you also want a house with high-quality construction. Without strong building blocks, a house will eventually fall down.
(The building blocks of a brand are its product and quality service delivery.)
If house hunters know about the house for sale and its location, they can consider buying it. (This knowledge represents a brand's awareness levels,) They may already have an opinion of the house based on the quality of the neighbourhood and its proximity to good schools, restaurants and shops. (These preconceptions represent a brand's image.)
When you first see a house from the outside, its curb appeal makes an important impression. (Similarly, the outer appearance of a brand, such as a logo or symbol, communicates something to its prospects.) When a prospective buyer enters a house, they receive a strong first impression, positive or negative. (Likewise for brands; the first-time user experience is a critical customer experience touch point.)
Finally, a house buyer must decide whether they want to live in that house for the long-term. Of course, this requires living with the house's quirks and improving or personalizing it to make it a home. (For brands, this long-term commitment and experience over time represents customer loyalty.)
In other words, brands are multifaceted and complex - certainly much more than a name or image. If you aren't aware of a brand, you'll never consider it even though it may be just what you want or need. First impressions and appearance are very important, and so is the quality of the foundation and building*./-blocks, especially over the long term. Brands, like houses, have unique personalities. Customers develop relationships with brands that change over time as their needs and expectations evolve.
Your unique brand identification is much more than a name, logo or image. Brands represent nothing less than a customer's complete experience with your organization, service delivery and product. The power of a brand lies in the minds of consumers and what they have experienced and learned while doing business with you over time.
Can you think of five new things you can do today to improve your service delivery and build your brand?
Your Next Training Session - How to Make It a Real Hit!
Are you thinking of doing some staff training in 2010?
You've decided on the topic and how this team-building session will give a powerful boost to the spirit and effectiveness of the staff. A well-designed and delivered team-building program can lead to better understanding, clearer alignment and much stronger motivation.
There is just one problem. Organizing a training session or a team-building event is a big responsibility. So, here are nine ideas to make your event a well planned and memorable success.
1. Set the tone with an inspiring theme. Telegraph the tone and purpose of your event with a theme that sparks the imagination, something new and exciting.
2. Prime the pump for full participation by using internal communications to get everyone interested and ready for the event, arouse people's curiosity.
3. Give the staff a break by conducting the event off-site. This allows participants to get away from the workplace, minimizes disruptions and mentally opens their thinking to
new points of view.
4. Stimulate interest and get involvement by using a mix of energy, enterprise and entertainment. You may have "hard work" sections with speeches about future workshops
on current business problems. Or "play hard" sections with team games and outdoor challenges. You can also include social ingredients through mealtime activities, awards
and entertainment.
5. Allow enough time to process and discuss by allotting adequate time between each activity for discussion, learning and application feedback to the job. It's better to have
a full day with two team-building games and enough time for discussion, than a "stuffed" day with three or four games with little time for reflection.
6. Document your sessions and give copies of the photographs to the participants at the end of the session. Post the best photographs on the cafeteria bulletin board or
publish them in your newsletter. Better yet, have a videotape of the workshop edited with music and snappy graphics and show it at internal meetings and social gatherings.
7. Harness the power of peripheral players by selecting participants who are unrelated to the core group. Include internal customers, suppliers, neighbouring departments,
because these peripheral players will often add significant value, perspective and insight to your program. They can also help with communicating the new "ideas" back
to their respective organizations.
8. Get personal and make sure everyone sees the link between "group teambuilding" and "individual actions" on the job. Have each person complete a commitment card,
action-planning list, personal promise statement or some other vehicle to ensure application of appropriate new behaviours. Closing a team-building program by having
everyone share their list is a good way to gain buy-in from individuals, and the entire group.
9. Planning and preparing a team-building program is a major undertaking, so be sure to give recognition to those who did the behind-the-scenes work. A small but thoughtful
gift, given in front of everyone at the end of the program will be appreciated and remembered.
Customer Service Institute of Canada 2011
Articles Page 1
Relationship -Oriented
High needs for relationship.
Need sales/service people to
have an in-depth understanding
of their situation.
(e.g., many buyers of sophisticated insurance
products or legal services
Transaction -Oriented
Low need for a relationship and
low needs for information.
(e.g., vending machine purchases).
Partnership -Oriented
High relationship and information needs.
Want organizations that are proactive,
that inform and educate, that understand
their company/needs.
their company/needs.
They need a personal relationship, mutual
beneficial goals, and a sense of joint risk.
(e.g., Wal-Mart's renowned relationship
with its major suppliers).
Information-Oriented
High needs for information, low need
for a relationship. They know what they
want, and want to be informed and educated.
e.g., users of discount brokerage,
doctors buying pharmaceuticals).
The key point is that each customer has his or her own perspective on value.
That's why a customer-centred organization selects and understands its target buyers before building a proprietary interaction process. In this way, it eliminates the risk of designing a creative way of doing business that no one cares much about.
Low
LEADERSHIP EDUCATION RECOGNITION
Customer Service Institute of Canada
CSICanada