Mike Skidmore
Reputation, Stories And The External Brand
Stories, stories!
Just think about how we actually share information as individuals. We don’t talk as a corporate brochure is written, use ad-speak or re-tell news like a BBC presenter. We use stories, not facts, to illustrate our points of view, and this is what drives reputation.
We just cannot evidence our views on experiences without anecdotes, and perversely, the best-travelled anecdotes are essentially negative and often detrimental to the subject.
Imagine returning from a family holiday. The weather was good, the food enjoyable and the accommodation and service acceptable Post conversations with colleagues would probably centre upon the obligatory sunshine and activity highlights with only a passing reference to the company behind the vacation.
However, had the holiday been poor, the resulting conversations would have certainly centred upon the company behind it, endorsed with a regular supply of anecdotes detailing failures in service. And guess what? The audience would engage much more enthusiastically in the tales of woe than they ever would have done looking at smiley, beach pictures of non-contentious holiday experiences.
Your bathroom in the hotel leaked. By the time the tale is told later it was a major flood. A complaint was made to the hotel reception, where several other guests were experiencing similar problems. By the time this part of the tale is told there were 50 people in the queue, irate, frustrated at the wait and threatening legalities.
Negative news always cultivates grapevines, and there is nothing people enjoy more than owning and sharing information that is bad!
Just think about poor old Fiat cars and their past reputation. A close family member owned one in the days when it was said that Fiat used sub-standard, Russian iron-ore It rusted prematurely. He’s never forgiven them and never owned one since but he will, with relish, advise potential car buyers to avoid the brand at all costs because their cars were and therefore always will be “rust-boxes”!
Stereotypes and prejudice
Unfortunately, we are also ‘experts’ on people and businesses that we have often never even encountered. Builders let you down and rip you off, estate agents do nothing and charge huge fees and solicitors do their best to make divorces as contentious as possible.
In other words, we label and pre-judge according to years of conditioning and hearsay.
A person wearing a BT uniform will be looked upon differently from someone in an AA uniform. Every traffic warden is a psychopath, academics are all a bit bonkers and hoodie-wearing youths are thugs!
The challenge that all businesses face in this context, is that the customer very rarely enters into a commercial relationship looking for evidence that their preconceptions are wrong. They are predominantly seeking to protect themselves by looking for signs that their concerns are real. This is why consistent performance, beyond the call of duty, is required to win the heart, mind and ultimate loyalty of a customer.
If an individual works for a company, the tax office for example, where they are harshly pre-judged and labelled as unpleasant and intransigent, they must ask themselves what the point is of being any different. Your customer complaints department may well suffer in exactly the same way.
This vicious circle must be consistently managed if any organisation is to have a fighting chance of protecting and enhancing its brand reputation. This can only be tackled by first taking a realistic look at perception and risk.
Brand touch points
One way of addressing vulnerability in brand reputation terms, is to identify the many points at which a customer or potential customer experiences the brand. A good example of this is an airline, where there are essentially four stages of customer interaction:
- Pre-sales – e.g. marketing, word of mouth, website, travel agents
- Sales – e.g. call centre, ticket office, ticket machines, check-in, boarding, in-flight
- Post sales – e.g. luggage handling, complaints, transportation, car hire
- Retention – e.g. customer service, satisfaction surveys, reward schemes
A customer’s experience at each of the touch points has a profound effect upon their attitude and commitment to the
next. This means that promises and delivery must be aligned. Over-promising to hook people in is a risky strategy. It is what they are expecting you to do, and it will be punished if your proposition is found wanting.
It is all about being joined up at every stage of the customer relationship process, both practically and emotionally in tone and behaviour. Customers always spot cracks and so do staff within a company which puts them and therefore you, at risk
How can a business manage its reputation in this context?
The first thing to accept is that things will go wrong, it is almost inevitable. Damage limitation through being prepared is essential, from operational and infrastructure planning in the event of a physical disaster, to a well honed customer communication and PR programme for any reputation-threatening issue.
There is no doubt that any company that handles itself well by being timely and honest with its customers, making clear promises about resolution of issues and delivering them, can actually strengthen a customer’s loyalty. It is when companies are fearful of giving their customers bad news and try to cover it up in impossible situations that the worst damage occurs. The company does not look joined-up, which will then drive the belief that they do know their backside from their elbow!
Value points
Brands need to earn value points with customers. These are not points for simply meeting expectations; they don’t count, as no-one remembers when a job is just completed as promised – that is taken for granted. These are points earned for value; doing something special for a customer that they will remember. This can include addressing a situation where something has gone wrong, through initiative and taking as much of the pain away as possible.
Ten points have to be earned in this manner before one can be lost. Do this and a customer may well forgive and forget. However, another ten points must be earned before the next loss, as two dropped points in a row will look like a pattern. The trust will be gone and the door will be open for a competitor.
Addressing your internal brand reputation
For your people to meet the promises your brand makes and deliver beyond expectation, they must feel connected to the customer. In order to do this they must feel good about themselves within the business and their reputation outside of it.
It is just like a game of football. Think England! The better the team is performing, the more encouraging the fans become. The more encouraging the fans become the better the team responds. When the opposite happens they drag each other down and performance suffers.
Stories, stories!
Just think about how we actually share information as individuals. We don’t talk as a corporate brochure is written, use ad-speak or re-tell news like a BBC presenter. We use stories, not facts, to illustrate our points of view, and this is what drives reputation.
We just cannot evidence our views on experiences without anecdotes, and perversely, the best-travelled anecdotes are essentially negative and often detrimental to the subject.
Imagine returning from a family holiday. The weather was good, the food enjoyable and the accommodation and service acceptable Post conversations with colleagues would probably centre upon the obligatory sunshine and activity highlights with only a passing reference to the company behind the vacation.
However, had the holiday been poor, the resulting conversations would have certainly centred upon the company behind it, endorsed with a regular supply of anecdotes detailing failures in service. And guess what? The audience would engage much more enthusiastically in the tales of woe than they ever would have done looking at smiley, beach pictures of non-contentious holiday experiences.
Your bathroom in the hotel leaked. By the time the tale is told later it was a major flood. A complaint was made to the hotel reception, where several other guests were experiencing similar problems. By the time this part of the tale is told there were 50 people in the queue, irate, frustrated at the wait and threatening legalities.
Negative news always cultivates grapevines, and there is nothing people enjoy more than owning and sharing information that is bad!
Just think about poor old Fiat cars and their past reputation. A close family member owned one in the days when it was said that Fiat used sub-standard, Russian iron-ore It rusted prematurely. He’s never forgiven them and never owned one since but he will, with relish, advise potential car buyers to avoid the brand at all costs because their cars were and therefore always will be “rust-boxes”!
Stereotypes and prejudice
Unfortunately, we are also ‘experts’ on people and businesses that we have often never even encountered. Builders let you down and rip you off, estate agents do nothing and charge huge fees and solicitors do their best to make divorces as contentious as possible.
In other words, we label and pre-judge according to years of conditioning and hearsay.
A person wearing a BT uniform will be looked upon differently from someone in an AA uniform. Every traffic warden is a psychopath, academics are all a bit bonkers and hoodie-wearing youths are thugs!
The challenge that all businesses face in this context, is that the customer very rarely enters into a commercial relationship looking for evidence that their preconceptions are wrong. They are predominantly seeking to protect themselves by looking for signs that their concerns are real. This is why consistent performance, beyond the call of duty, is required to win the heart, mind and ultimate loyalty of a customer.
If an individual works for a company, the tax office for example, where they are harshly pre-judged and labelled as unpleasant and intransigent, they must ask themselves what the point is of being any different. Your customer complaints department may well suffer in exactly the same way.
This vicious circle must be consistently managed if any organisation is to have a fighting chance of protecting and enhancing its brand reputation. This can only be tackled by first taking a realistic look at perception and risk.
Brand touch points
One way of addressing vulnerability in brand reputation terms, is to identify the many points at which a customer or potential customer experiences the brand. A good example of this is an airline, where there are essentially four stages of customer interaction:
- Pre-sales – e.g. marketing, word of mouth, website, travel agents
- Sales – e.g. call centre, ticket office, ticket machines, check-in, boarding, in-flight
- Post sales – e.g. luggage handling, complaints, transportation, car hire
- Retention – e.g. customer service, satisfaction surveys, reward schemes
A customer’s experience at each of the touch points has a profound effect upon their attitude and commitment to the
next. This means that promises and delivery must be aligned. Over-promising to hook people in is a risky strategy. It is what they are expecting you to do, and it will be punished if your proposition is found wanting.
It is all about being joined up at every stage of the customer relationship process, both practically and emotionally in tone and behaviour. Customers always spot cracks and so do staff within a company which puts them and therefore you, at risk
How can a business manage its reputation in this context?
The first thing to accept is that things will go wrong, it is almost inevitable. Damage limitation through being prepared is essential, from operational and infrastructure planning in the event of a physical disaster, to a well honed customer communication and PR programme for any reputation-threatening issue.
There is no doubt that any company that handles itself well by being timely and honest with its customers, making clear promises about resolution of issues and delivering them, can actually strengthen a customer’s loyalty. It is when companies are fearful of giving their customers bad news and try to cover it up in impossible situations that the worst damage occurs. The company does not look joined-up, which will then drive the belief that they do know their backside from their elbow!
Value points
Brands need to earn value points with customers. These are not points for simply meeting expectations; they don’t count, as no-one remembers when a job is just completed as promised – that is taken for granted. These are points earned for value; doing something special for a customer that they will remember. This can include addressing a situation where something has gone wrong, through initiative and taking as much of the pain away as possible.
Ten points have to be earned in this manner before one can be lost. Do this and a customer may well forgive and forget. However, another ten points must be earned before the next loss, as two dropped points in a row will look like a pattern. The trust will be gone and the door will be open for a competitor.
Addressing your internal brand reputation
For your people to meet the promises your brand makes and deliver beyond expectation, they must feel connected to the customer. In order to do this they must feel good about themselves within the business and their reputation outside of it.
It is just like a game of football. Think England! The better the team is performing, the more encouraging the fans become. The more encouraging the fans become the better the team responds. When the opposite happens they drag each other down and performance suffers.
23 Lodersfield Lechlade Gloucestershire GL7 3DJ - contact Cathy Shaw on T: 01367 252 206 E: cathy@mike-skidmore.com
Articles:-
Reputation & the internal brand >>
Managing the internal brand >>
Brand reputation >>
Reputation and information effectiveness >>
Reputation and the web >>
Managing the internal brand >>
Brand reputation >>
Reputation and information effectiveness >>
Reputation and the web >>
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |