A brand is the way a business is personified in the minds of consumers. – Melissa Bolton
When your team first set out to develop your company’s brand, you may have invested a lot of time in what a customer actually sees: website design, logos, taglines, colors… When you ask a customer about what he perceives to be a company’s brand, you’re likely to get an answer that does not
include anything in that list. Instead, a customer is likely to talk about how a company conducts itself and how it makes that customer feel when he does business with it.
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Photo by gkchest
We recently had the opportunity to speak with a perennially successful entrepreneur (who still personally serves within the service teams of her
various companies) about how she has come up with the vision for her consistently high quality service.
Where do you find your service inspiration?
“I was watching a movie years ago, and the characters went into an old drugstore and soda fountain. The man behind the counter was so friendly, so warm and helpful. It was an Aha Moment for me, that fairytale level of familiarity and service, that’s what I wanted my business to feel like to my customers.”
How do you translate that aspiration to your service team?
“I ask everyone to imagine their own happy place, their own vision of Main Street USA. What it would feel like to walk into a shop there, or to call up one of the local businesses with a question. How would they be greeted? How would they be treated? How would they feel when they think about those interactions? I want them to really translate that vision into their work. They’re playing a role within our companies, so I want to make sure everyone is playing a positive one.”
What do you find to be the biggest challenge in maintaining your service brand?
“In today’s landscape of heavily-digital business, it’s really easy to feel removed and get impersonal. Sitting in an office, talking on the phone or email, it takes real effort to stay connected and keep away from the slide into transactional interactions. They’re probably sick of hearing it, but we constantly go back to that idea of Main Street. Our customers may not physically be in front of us, but they are no less people, have no fewer feelings about us and our companies than ones who would step into a shop and order some ice cream. Our Main Street is more far flung, but we want our customers to feel just as happy.”
Do you have a vision for your service brand that you can easily convey to your service team? If so, what inspired you? What inspires your team? Have you found that your brand has been positively impacted by that vision?[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]