Set Sail For Unbreakable Customer Relationships

By Jeremy Miller


The power and energy of a great brand is not in a well-crafted mission statement or an exciting marketing campaign; it is in the hearts and minds of your employees. Try a little experiment. Randomly ask a few of your employees two questions. What business are we in, and what are we trying to achieve? If you receive differing answers from your people, then you have an opportunity to extend and grow your brand. A company's brand is the sum of its customers' experiences with the company, both positive and negative. Every time a customer calls for help, interacts with your products and services, or hears about the company — you are developing your brand. If you are considering building a great brand, the place to start is with your employees.

Kind and courteous people alone are not enough. The defining factor is to tap into the hearts and minds of your employees, and to help them find meaning and purpose with their jobs. A person that does not find meaning in his job cannot deliver consistent, positive customer experiences. Either they don't know how to, or they don't care to. To help your people embrace and believe in your company's purpose and brand is a journey. Your company's strength is deep within the organization. It is the corporate DNA made up of the company's people, mission, values, culture and collective ambitions. The company's leadership must always be looking for methods to tap into this DNA, and to help their employees live and embrace what you are trying to achieve with your customers. A great way to visualize this process is to imagine your company is a boat sailing to an island on the horizon.

Everything your company does should be focused and tuned to reach the island on the horizon; it is your company's purpose. Your company's mission statement is designed to articulate your final destination, the island. Take a look at yours. Is it clear, succinct and purposeful? If not, scrap it. Too often companies create wordy statements that are vague and designed to appeal to anyone and everyone. Wordy statements don't say a thing. At the other extreme is the mission statement that has multiple interpretations. Imagine trying to travel to three different islands on the horizon. How can you expect to focus your resources and employees on these disconnected goals? Not only does this confuse your employees, but more importantly it confuses the market.

Great mission statements are motivators. They describe what your organization is trying to achieve, and your organization's reason for being. To be useful the mission statement should be clear and short. Your employees may not be able to recite it from heart, but everyone should be able to clearly state what business you are in, why you exist and what you are trying to accomplish. It will act as a beacon of light on the horizon to focus the attention and energies of your employees. This simple act alone will lay the foundation to bring meaning and purpose to your employees' jobs. By knowing why it is important to serve customers in a certain way, or why we must constantly drive costs down will guide the actions of your employees. Finding clarity and purpose is extremely difficult, but once you have it you will place a lighthouse on your island to help cut through the storms and fogs of your journey.

Identifying your final destination is only part of the journey, how you get there is just as important. The shoreline is your values, and if you do not respect and follow your values you will run aground and probably not arrive at your destination in one piece. If your mission defines what you are and why you exist, then your values will define how you will get there. Many companies have developed their value statements inline with the teachings of Jim Collins in Good to Great. Flip through the ocean of corporate web sites in the Internet, and you will find values of respect, integrity, communication and excellence. Funny enough those happened to be Enron's core values.

The process of uncovering values and purpose cannot be superficial. Values such as winning and getting paid may not make great advertising copy, but that could very well be what your company truly values. Every company has its own set of shared values that cannot be easily broken or ignored. Leaders must make it their responsibility to uphold the values of the company. Every time a value is ignored or broken you send a clear message to your employees, your customers and your partners that you are not serious about reaching your final destination; you will run aground.

On every ship you will find a compass. It is a powerful tool to tell you if you are on course, and which direction to take. A business's compass is its unique approach to your category or business. Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema in the book The Discipline of Market Leaders describe the compass as "value disciplines". There are three value disciplines: product leadership, customer intimacy and operational excellence. Is your company's strength in its ability to innovate and develop new products, is it your ability to create customer focused solutions or do you offer the cheapest price? By focusing on your core strength and setting your compass you will put a powerful decision making tool into the hands of every employee. To find your compass start with your best and most loyal customers, and build a long list of all the benefits you provide them as well as the areas you are differentiated in the market. Through this process you will see patterns emerge. Narrow and pare down this list until you identify the most important and singular brand differentiators. Just as a compass always points to north, your compass will help you navigate through the waters by focusing on a consistent customer experience, whether that be price, targeted solutions or product innovation.

The crew you keep will impact who wants to travel with you. The mark of a great captain is his or her ability to assemble a cohesive team committed and focused on accomplishing the journey. A crew that has the wrong talents or does not work well together may end up pulling the boat in circles. There is nothing more important for a company's success than hiring and retaining great people. It is a combination of bringing on the people with the talents, skills and values that are required to get to the final destination. The same is true for getting off the people that don't have what it takes to get to the island. One of the most frustrating things is to see a crewmember pretending to paddle. When you pull an oar through the water it creates little whirlpools that swirl around the paddle. If a person is pretending to paddle you can see the paddle gliding through the water with the momentum of the boat, but it won't be making any whirlpools. Get rid of those false paddlers, and use your mission, values and compass to focus the actions of each of your crew.

When your crew is truly engaged in the journey they will tell stories of where they have come from and where they are going. A story is a powerful tool to focus the efforts and energies of your employees. It provides context for the journey. Leaders should always be looking for new and creative ways to communicate the company's mission, values and why you are different to build the culture of the organization. Sales people and marketers are the typical orators of corporate stories, but don't stop there. Encourage storytelling throughout your organization to help employees know and be proud of where they have come from and where they are going. This will provide you with two key benefits: a close-knit culture and a group of committed marketers. Every time an employee interacts with a customer they will use these stories to guide their actions and provide context to what an outstanding customer relationship should be. It takes them beyond being kind and courteous to being committed and focused. Going beyond the call of duty.

A company that is conscious and focused on succeeding at its journey will stand out in the marketplace. It is a pursuit that most executives are aware of, but a daunting challenge nonetheless. You can control your marketing message and communications, but controlling the beliefs, actions and pursuits of your employees is like herding cats. When you and your crew commit to a final destination and identify purpose in your journey your customers will reward you handsomely.

About the Author Jeremy Miller is a Partner with LEAPJob. LEAPJob is a sales recruiting and sales consulting firm based in Toronto, Canada. LEAPJob helps companies achieve their growth targets by building top performing sales organizations. You can reach Jeremy at www.LEAPJob.com .