Branding Service – the next big challenge? By Lesley Everett

Branding is a term talked about a great deal in today’s image conscious and visual world. No one would argue that it is essential to the success of any product, organisation or service and certainly the consistency of a brands’ image is vital. As we know, the commercial world is a much more competitive environment than it was even five years ago – now banks are having to compete with supermarkets in the financial services business, medical establishments with high street chemists, etc. Businesses have to work even harder to differentiate and present themselves more effectively if they are to retain their existing customers, let alone attract new ones.

Business success today is no longer down to product capability or company brand name, it very much depends on customer service delivery and the whole ‘customer experience’ factors. None of this could happen without the people element of the corporate and product brand. It is the human factor of branding that is constantly overlooked in achieving a consistent corporate brand image – that’s how we as managers or employees look, act and behave when communicating and interacting, both externally and internally.

Food for thought then that when it comes to brand communication, marketing spend may only account for, and control, a very small percentage of the entire brand message.

Why?

Because people project brand messages and they are the largest element of the brand message.

q Research shows that over half of the impact we make on others is via appearance, including silent body language messages.

q Around a third of the impact is made via voice quality – pitch, tone, speed, clarity.

q Which leaves just a small 7%-10% of impact down to the content and words we use. A great sales pitch or scripted hymn sheet is not enough!

Assuming that most client and customer-facing staff know their content and the key messages to verbally get across about the company, product or service – ‘the 10% margin,’ - this means that around 90% of brand communication through client and customer-facing activity could be ‘off message’.

Multiply this figure by the number of employees in your organisation and it becomes very clear that the potential for unintentionally wrecking brand image could be vast.

So it’s clear that your brand messages should run in tandem – the corporate brand and the human brand. All your brand delivery mechanisms should be in alignment and reinforce each other, rather than some weakening the message or conflicting with each other.

So how do we address this potential off-message issue? We’re all familiar with branding for a product to make people want to buy it or learn more about it, but now you need to think about building a strong brand for yourself and your people. Why? Because not only is there a need to be outstanding when it comes to portraying the corporate brand, (we’re all ambassadors for the company we work for after all), but for your own career progression and personal development you deserve to stand out from the crowd for the right positive reasons.

Think of all this as Brand ME. Being charismatic and memorable are elements of your brand that will be instrumental to your own success.

Charismatic people are magnetic people.

Personal Branding is about understanding the strengths and individuality of you and your staff and then presenting these via the personal ‘package.’ I believe that not enough time is spent in personal brand development terms on recognising the strengths of individuals and capitalising on these – companies tend to focus more on bridging the weakness gaps. A successful team, and therefore a successful company, is built on individuals who perform to high standards in their individual areas of expertise.

So if personal branding has such an important part to play in the image of our companies, and in our personal impact and success, how do we firstly, check out our image, and then unleash and develop the strong personal brand values?

Customers always remember the people communication elements of service and judge a company or organisation on the experience they receive, so if we can unleash charismatic elements of personality and individuality and consistently project these then the whole customer satisfaction level is increased. As Wally Olins says in his book Corporate Identity, “If the staff convey the values – how they look and act – and pass that onto customers, then the company succeeds.”

Personal branding is not about trying to be somebody you’re not - your personality and individuality are the most important elements here. It’s about identifying your values, strengths, motivators, drivers and beliefs - and then consistently reflecting these on the surface through the way you dress, you voice, body talk, behaviour and attitude. In other words, it’s about making sure your ‘personal package’ – your visual and verbal image, reflects your strong and unique personal brand values all the time, so that people will want to learn more about you and work with you and your company or repeat the experience in a customer serviced environment. Remember then that your personal brand image is a powerful and fundamental business tool to increase success.

It’s worth noting that research across a large number of organisations highlighted the three factors which determine your chances of success and promotion:

10% - doing the task

30% - how you behave when carrying out the task

60% - your exposure and visibility

Ensuring exceptional personal presentation exposure and being visible for all the right reasons to key decision makers in the office or customers on the ‘shop floor’ should therefore be part of your overall strategy for building a strong and influential personal brand, but firstly make sure you project the desired image.

So let’s now look at how to unleash and develop your personal brand formula. I suggest you start with some self-analysis. You need to think about what your outstanding strengths and values are. Write down three key words or short phrases that describe you and what you fundamentally stand for as a person. These are the things that you would like people to know about you when you meet them and/or work with them. You may have come up with words like; organised, open, warm, professional, creative, etc.

You now need to acquire candid feedback on your image from colleagues, friends or family. For example, ask yourself and ask others these sample questions:

q What kind of image do I project?

q What impression do I make on strangers upon meeting?

q How do clients and colleagues react towards me?

q What one behavioural trait might be worth changing?

You should then ask yourself and others to rate you in these key image areas:

q Voice Quality

q Communication Skills (written and verbal)

q Presentation Skills

q Listening skills

q Posture

q Fitness

q Dress and grooming

q Social Skills

Ask others to also write down three key words or short phrases that they think of when describing you to somebody else. How do these words compare to those you wrote down about yourself? If they’re similar, then you know these are really strong brand values for you. If they’re different, then either focus on them as strengths if they’re positive, or if negative, assess why people see these traits in you. How will you modify your behaviour to eliminate negative perceptions? Remember, that branding whether corporate or personal, is about the perceptions of others, so really taking control of your personal brand image is perception management. You have a personal brand image anyway, whether you like it or not, agree with it or not, so it’s up to you to make sure people see the real brand values that ARE YOU.

And now for some key tips on capitalising on your strengths and minimising the weaknesses.

Let’s take your voice:

Listen to your current voicemail/ansaphone message and to a voicemail message you might leave to a client who you haven’t yet met. What does your voice say about you? Does it ‘say’ upbeat, dynamic, interesting person, or does it ‘say’ downbeat, flat, boring and functional? Be honest and change it if necessary. It’s elements like this that we don’t notice but others do. Practice reading aloud a passage of text or a presentation and get interest in the voice by changing the tone, modulation and pace. In others words, get more interest and variation into the voice. Video this if you can and assess how you come across. Would you fall asleep listening to this presentation?

Think also about how you can stand out from the crowd and be memorable for the right reasons. Think about sending a traditional hardcopy signed letter instead of dropping an email - at times when it could make the desired impact. Or perhaps actually pick up the telephone or better still, making a meeting to meet the person face-to-face. These sorts of details give you extra gravitas in business and help to build a strong and consistent personal brand. Relying on electronic communication in business is a dangerous activity.

In terms of dress and grooming, it’s important that your appearance says what you want it to say about you, rather than give misleading messages about your personality. For example, your clothes should:

* Complement you physically, in colour and style

Get advice on this if you need to – the right colours and styles of clothes will retain attention to your face and not highlight bits you’d rather camouflage. Also, remember a good fit is vital if you’re to look well-dressed.

* Reflect your personality

Your clothes should be an extension of you and your personality – don’t try to say things about you that you can’t carry off. And playing it safe on a creative person gives a mixed message.

* Be appropriate for the audience, situation, environment and your objectives

Unless we’re appropriately dressed we’ll never be well-dressed. Think about your industry and that of your client – what is expected? Don’t be a maverick on this issue. Remember a formal suit may be what’s required, but on the other hand it may be intimidating for an informal discussion with a creative industry? Always enquire on the dress code policy when attending VIP meetings.

* Be current

If your image is a little yesterday rather than today, then your thought processes may also be considered to be dated. So, if this isn’t the case, time to audit your wardrobe and re-invest. And this includes hairstyle, spectacles, shoes and accessories.

And lastly, your personal grooming (and personal hygiene standards) will give massive clues to others about your inner values, self-esteem and your attention to detail. Areas such as teeth, breath, nostrils, ears, over-done make-up, (or no make-up on women), unkempt nails and body odour on either sex are all areas that research shows other people notice and do get in the way of professional success.

If we witness staff looking and being sloppy we will equate these sloppy standards ‘which management ‘must have endorsed, else they wouldn’t be allowed to happen,’ with not only that person but the company also. A reminder then that the people element of your business is your window display, your business card and the best advertisement that you’ll ever get.

The brand image of a company should not only be portrayed externally, it is also vital that the keys values are projected internally too via the management infrastructure. When it comes to the integrity of the internal corporate image, people believe more what they see than what they hear, so retain your company’s credibility by ensuring your management team all ‘look the part and talk the talk.’ The internal culture will soon be projected out to the external image of the company – and remember that a corporate image is the collective perceptions that customers hold about a company. Consistency is key and this means throughout products, marketing, website, advertising, logos and most importantly - the people.

So all in all, personal branding is not about changing the person you are, but rather projecting the values you want to project about yourself and your company.

As Dr Paul Temporal and Dr Harry Alder say in their book Corporate Charisma, “World class doesn’t have to mean global, but it does mean having a personality that is known over and above your individual products and services.”

Good customer service is crucial in every business and it’s not just about words and doing our job. Exceptional customer service and exceptional performance of a branded service is a key differentiator in today’s fragile and fickle marketplace.

A marketplace where we rarely get a second chance to make a good first impression. Consistency of your corporate brand throughout all your brand message mechanisms and most importantly you and your people is paramount to business success and differentiation today.

(2140 words)