By Sim Ling Ling

“A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well” Jeff Bezos

The challenge to stay ahead of the curve in matching products and services to customers’ need or perceptions is becoming difficult as competition becomes more creative and aggressive in the industry.

Whatever the influences your company has on employees and customers, it is undeniable that the SERVICE EXPERIENCE industry is all about ‘EMOTIONS’. How authentic and persuasive is your brand vision, mission and values interweaved within your employees and crafted expertly and seamlessly for your guests?

Is your brand promise getting out of touch with the actual brand experience that your guests are receiving from your products and services? How passionate and engaging are your service ambassadors when attempting to deliver the functional, emotional and inspirational experience during their interactions and relationships with your customers?

No business is too small that there is no brand experience. Whether you like it or not, the customers will always have a branded experience of your business. When they like the experience promised and delivered by you, they will develop what we call the ‘brand loyalty’, a prized commodity for any business owner to generate repeat customers and business.

Even if you are not in a leadership role and more so if you are, you could not afford to not take an honest evaluation of your service and products, the reputation your company is representing and how you or your employees define yourself when customers bring their business to you. You could not afford to take matters for granted in this ever changing landscape of service excellence and effective customer relationship management. What you are not doing right or doing enough will seriously weaken your brand marketing and ability to attract potential customers. A drop in customer satisfaction will lead to a plunge in customer referrals and customer retention.

The better you understand your business, customers, employees and the authentic brand promise you wish to share, the easier you can manage the customers’ emotions and meet their perceived needs.

Here are some ways to kick start your game plan on REFRESHING and DESIGNING your brand experience:

• Listen with your heart. When you are leading your business from your heart, you are listening from your heart. Leading from the heart is a natural progression when you are passionate and committed about what you are doing for your employees and customers. Good leaders will put people ahead of processes and systems and will listen for valuable information to make changes that would benefit internal processes, inspire employees to be passionate about what they do and improve the ways your customers are treated. You could develop products and offer services that you know customers want and need and deliver remarkable and memorable experiences and build ongoing long term relationships.
  
  
• Embrace innovation. Change your mindset. Redefine your brand purpose. Do not play safe and let your competitors take chances with innovation, new ideas and business endeavors. Encourage creativity and authenticity in your business and relationships. Start to see things with fresh eyes from the perspective of your employees and guests, and begin to continuously align the dynamics of your people and processes towards the customers. Use innovation in systems, processes, products and services that would stimulate your customers’ senses of color, texture, sight, smell and emotional state. Ensure each and every aspect of your operation positively touches your customers when they deal with you.
  
  
• Engage employees. Excite and engage the hearts and minds of your guest contact or front-line employees in service. Your employees represent your company’s esteemed culture and values and are the focal point to optimize the guest contact opportunity, reinforce memorable interactions and build relationships with customers. When was the last time you shared your strategies and aspirations of your brand and what it represents with your employees?
  
  
• Hire the personality, train the skills. Do not just hire people who will manage workloads. Hire people who will give you an edge over the rest in the industry. Review your hiring and retention policies. Have you hired for talent, compensated competitively, trained and developed your employees and rewarded excellence? Have you created the environment and workplace that is right and supports the brand dynamic, focused upon skills, attitude, culture and support to enhance the Guest Experience?
  
  
• Champion the cause. When you tour your premises, from the parking lot, throughout your departments, evaluate the reception, dining rooms, the guest areas, public areas, ask at each point, “Does this meet the brand promise I have established?” Drive the brand evolution not next day, next week or next quarter but TODAY. Begin with the next operations meeting. Begin with the next marketing meeting. Begin with the next new hire.

And when you build a great experience for your customers, they will tell other customers about it and word of mouth is the most powerful advertisement for your business.

It is not all that hard. It starts with the decision to just be better.

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