Delivering the Goods is Half the Battle

Building a premium brand should be the goal of every business and every person. When most people think of a “premium brand,” they think of a product, service or individual that delivers exceptionally high quality at a good value. All too many people think building a premium brand stops there. But that’s not all there is to it.

To illustrate exactly what I mean, let me use the recent experience a colleague had with his premium brand flat screen LCD TV as an example of how the brand image of even the highest quality product can be damaged by inferior follow-up.

My colleague paid a large sum of money to purchase an LCD TV from one of the most well-known and respected manufacturers in the marketplace at the beginning of this year. He even had several relatives give him gift cards to a leading consumer electronics retail chain for Christmas in order to help defray the cost. The TV worked perfectly for about eight months, until one day it mysteriously went on the fritz. After carefully checking the cable connection, electrical outlet, remote control, etc. for problems and finding none, he called the manufacturer’s help line, as the TV was still under one-year factory warranty.

Following a rather lengthy wait on hold, my colleague finally spoke with a customer service representative, who efficiently if dispassionately ran him through a series of remote diagnostic tests that neither discovered nor solved the root of the problem. After being put on hold for another several minutes, my colleague was informed that because his TV was smaller than 42 inches, he would be ineligible for a home visit from a technician and instead would have to schlep the TV to the nearest approved warranty repair center. This happened to be a mom-and-pop TV repair shop located about 40 minutes from his house. To add insult to injury, mom and pop did not offer weekend or evening hours, meaning he would have to take time off work to both bring the TV in for repairs and then pick it up!

Apparently the TV gods were playing some sort of cosmic joke on my colleague, because after being left unplugged overnight, his TV mysteriously started working again. But the damage to this premium brand had already been done. Not because the TV broke down, which unfortunately can happen at any time with even the best electronic devices. But because once the goods were delivered, the manufacturer essentially wrote him off.

To truly build a premium brand, you need to offer premium follow-up. Customer service does not end after the customer pays the bill! Even if a customer or client has an issue months or years later, you need to offer fast, courteous service and make every effort to resolve the issue at your own inconvenience, not the customer’s. This type of follow-up shows you truly stand by your brand and distinguishes the merely good brands from the great ones.

In addition to offering high-quality goods, premium retail brands like Nordstrom and L.L. Bean further justify the admittedly high prices they charge with extremely generous and convenient return policies. Use them as your guidepost for your customer follow-up policies, not manufacturers of expensive TVs who provide a quality brand experience until something breaks down.

Have you ever experienced poor customer service follow-up that damaged your perception of a brand? Share your story!

http://www.themichaeldbrown.com

Adaptability is Key to Surviving and Thriving When Times Are Tough

Some people pride themselves on having always provided the same services and/or products the same way, at the same price, for years on end. They think this inflexibility in how they serve their customers, bosses and clients is a sign of brand strength, proof that they can provide something constant in a chaotic and ever-changing world.

Hooey. The people you provide products and services to, the connoisseurs of your brand, if you will, are not looking for a constant. They’re looking for the best deal or best advantage they can get today. What works best today may not be what worked best yesterday and probably won’t be what works best tomorrow. In this difficult environment when nobody wants to spend a penny they don’t have to, the only unchanging constant associated with your brand should be that you provide a top quality brand experience. Everything else should be open for negotiation.

Let me give you an example from my own brand-building experience to illustrate exactly what I mean. When I first left my career as a top executive at a Fortune 5 company to become a full-time motivational speaker, career coach and business author, I was surprised by the need to quickly and effectively change my operating model in a seamless manner.

I mean the whole enchilda: marketing, branding, client support and customer services. I no longer had the resources of a global organization to fall back upon; I had me: Michael D. Brown. If Michael D. Brown did not complete a task, no matter how small or menial, there were no support staffers to complete it for me.

On top of this drastic change in resources and responsibilities, the economy decided to start tanking right around the time I made my career switch. As the economy proves it can change drastically without warning, you need to have robust contingency plans in place that allow you to quickly reduce your operating cost while increasing the level of service and value you provide to your customers.

When the economy struggles, consumers start to look for low-cost, quality solutions and will pay little attention to a business that isn’t adjusting their pricing without sacrificing quality. This meant I had to be willing to accept less for doing the same or even more work. After all, collecting 50% of my previous fee is a lot better than collecting 0%!

By being flexible, by being willing to alter every aspect of my brand proposition except for the top-level products and services I provide, I have been able to survive and yes, even thrive as I grow my young business during one of the worst recessions in living memory. I may not be making quite as much as I would have had I stayed in my executive position, but the freedom of being my own boss and satisfaction of helping others to earn my living more than make up for any lost pay. At the end of the day, flexibility can help you obtain the most valuable brand asset of all: peace of mind.

Have you found yourself taking a more flexible approach to building your brand, either by choice or necessity, during this recession? Let me know your story!

http://www.themichaeldbrown.com

The Same Brand Can Mean Different Things to Different People
Expect Negative Reactions, and Go on the Offensive against Them!

Even the most popular and admired brands have their detractors. Not everyone likes the taste of Coke or the fit of Levi-Strauss jeans. So it will be with your brand. No matter how hard you work or how much unique value you provide, there is almost guaranteed to be at least a handful of detractors. If you’re lucky, your detractors will be few in number and low-key in their criticisms. But you may not always be lucky.

A perfect example of a brand that has recently garnered intense public reaction, both positive and negative, is the brand of health care reform. President Obama made health care reform a pillar of his presidential campaign last year and now is trying to implement it. His supporters will tell you Obama’s plans are humane, rational and necessary for the good of both public health and the economy. But there is another, very vocal side of the public argument.

Obama’s detractors argue his health care reform proposal will turn America into a socialist or even communist nation, bankrupt small businesses, create massive deficits and tax hikes, drive doctors out of their practices, and even subject senior citizens to “death panels” that will determine if their lives are worthy of continued medical care. Former Alaska Governor (and Republican VP candidate) Sarah Palin has publicly compared Obama’s plan to Nazism.

Few people are saying our country’s current health care system works well, and few are questioning how hard Obama has worked on crafting his proposed reform or how dedicated he is to enacting it. Yet ask two different people their opinion on the current health care reform issue, and you may think there is no possible way they are talking about the same subject. Sometimes you can work really hard and genuinely try to offer creative solutions to established problems, and still not satisfy large segments of your audience. Please keep in mind I’m not taking a public stance on health care reform, I’m simply using it to illustrate a point about branding.

So what do you do when faced with vocal detractors to your brand? Go on the offensive! Obama’s response to the intense criticism of his health care plan is a perfect example. Rather than ignore his detractors, or try to combat them through the media, Obama and his allies are directly taking their argument in favor of their brand to the public through open town meetings, knowing full well detractors will show up in force. This allows the Obama team to demonstrate how fervently they believe in their brand, directly rebut criticisms of it, and deliver a message undiluted by third-party interpretation.

You should do the same thing. If a competitor or former customer is bad-mouthing you to your clients, acknowledge the criticism and defuse it with direct communication. If your brand competition is internal, don’t be afraid to publicly defend your brand at company meetings or at the water cooler. Your entire livelihood rests on your brand; so you can never rest in your efforts to identify and neutralize its detractors.

www.themichaeldbrown.com

Reader Poll: What brand of health care reform do you think is being proposed? A humane, rational brand? An inhumane, un-American brand? A mediocre brand that doesn’t really change anything? Something else entirely? Share your opinion today!

Use Negative Lessons to Build a Positive Brand Foundation

While I didn’t realize it at the time, I started building my personal brand in the fourth grade when I took a job working as a handyman and house-cleaner for a lady from a wealthy neighborhood on the other side of the tracks, who I will call Norma. My employee-boss relationship with Norma was by no means an easy one. This crotchety, high-society, Miss Havisham-esque woman was extremely demanding and could become physically violent if her every whim was not fulfilled.

It seemed the harder I worked, the more she demanded. Leaving was not an option—I enjoyed and needed this job’s financial compensation. I was one of 10 siblings being raised by my widowed mother, and we were living in Holmes County, Mississippi, the fourth poorest county in the country. But after two years of slaving away for Norma, I finally found another job so I could finally leave her.

As brutal as the experience with Norma had been, it was not without its lessons. I learned that using fear isn’t an ideal way to treat employees; instead, strict authority is damaging to their morale, self-esteem, and self-confidence. I also learned that setting clear expectations, providing feedback (be it good or bad), a simple “thank you,” and respect must be the foundation of an employee-employer relationship.

In addition, working for Norma taught me to never give up on satisfying the customer. I needed to deliver a service to her, and when she told me it wasn’t right, it affected me. I began doubting myself.

But now I realize that sometimes, like with Norma, it will never be right. You have to understand people and what makes them happy. You need to realize that sometimes the problem is just a result of a customer’s personality, but still continue to try hard to satisfy them and take their feedback. Throughout all my jobs, I’ve excelled at meeting and surpassing customer service standards.

I also learned to work with the employee to create the customer experience. I’ve never forgotten what it’s like to be the low man on the totem pole. I know that people do not embrace fear, they run from it. By working with and through people, rather than trying to work around them or even worse, using harsh, dictatorial methods of “motivation,” I have produced impressive results with every staff I have ever managed.

Customer satisfaction and high employee productivity and morale are the cornerstones upon which I have built my successful brand as a manager, motivator, coach and speaker. It all started more than a quarter-century ago with Norma. Who knows, if she had been a sweet, kindly old lady, my future brand may have suffered!

www.themichaeldbrown.com

Reader Poll: Have you ever had a negative work experience that proved beneficial later in your career? Post your replies (and your stories) today!

This Summer, Take a Little Time to Enjoy Your Branding Success

In most of my blog entries, I exhort my readers to dedicate themselves to creating, developing, strengthening, extending and promoting their personal brand so they can achieve maximum potential in business and in life. I do this for a simple reason – hard work is what works (and the ONLY thing that works) for those who seek success in any facet of life.

However, there is also some truth to the old maxim, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” After all, how much good will success really do you if you never step back and take a little time to enjoy it? As summer arrives and the warm weather (hopefully) comes along for the ride, it’s a good time to take a moment to reflect on the need for a little “me” time every now and then.

Now, don’t get me wrong here. Most of us would like to spend our days galloping in the pleasures of life. Be it attending a party where the conversation flows freely and the responsible beverage of your choice even more freely, be it going on a shopping spree every Saturday, volunteering at your favorite charity, be it taking a trip to Europe or basting in the Key West Sun for days on end. It is great to seek out the pleasure in life and we should have this on our “to do” list. But that “to do” list can get awfully crowded.

What you must not do is partake in pleasure at the expense of not achieving your aspiration, not acquiring the skills necessary to become a branded expert, not enhancing your brand, not broadening your network, not building your Branding Board of Advisors. You must be disciplined and deliberate in planning what pleasures and when to partake on your success journey.

Too much of a good thing, too much of the time, leads to too little personal and professional success. This also slows your progress and the speed in which you are able to realize success.

So be sure to have a little relaxing “me” time this summer. Or even better, have some “we” time – the pleasures that come with success are even more pleasurable when shared with family, friends or perhaps even strangers who need a helping hand. Just remember to keep your head on straight and avoid those types of false, short-term “pleasures” that ultimately bring pain. Even rock star Mick Jagger, not exactly known as a proponent of modest living, is famous for saying, “It’s all right letting yourself go, as long as you can get yourself back.” Have a great summer and give your brand a tan!

www.themichaeldbrown.com

Life’s Biggest Journeys Start with a Single Step!

I spend a lot of time on this blog exhorting my readers to build, nourish and expand their personal brand. But it has occurred to me that not everyone may know exactly what I mean by “personal brand,” or how to initiate the process of building one.

There is nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about if this describes you; most people already have a personal brand whether they realize it or not. The key is building and shaping that personal brand in such a way that it maximizes your potential for success in business and in life.

Put briefly, your personal brand is that solid and consistent impression that comes to mind when people think of you. The first step in creating a personal brand is identifying your target audience/market. Is it a company who can award you a job with six-figure potential, or is it a future employer who will appoint you to your dream role? Whatever the case, figure out who you are targeting.

Now find out what this person or organization’s needs and wants are and then quickly realize if you can meet the needs or wants that they have. After which, you will need to create reasons why people should believe you will deliver the results that your brand promises. Is it your trustworthiness? Work ethic? Professional training and/or experience? Do you have reliable references who can attest to your excellent work and dedication to complete customer satisfaction?

In short, figure out the pain (needs/wants) that exists with the person or organization and then show how you can solve their pain via the brand that you possess. Now here is the competitive part- figure out what makes you different from your competitors.

Especially in the current tight market for jobs and customers, you have to assume that many other people are attempting to solve the same pain of the same people and organizations you are targeting. When you create this personal brand identity, you will be sought after as the person who can meet the particular needs of a company.

Remember, YOU HAVE TO STAND OUT IN A POSITIVE AND MEMORABLE WAY. Otherwise, you will become the opposite of a personal brand – “generic.” And nobody goes out of their way to pay top dollar for a generic brand.

So now that you know what it means to build a personal brand, the time has come to step away from the computer and get to work. Trust me, your competitors aren’t waiting, and neither should you!

www.themichaeldbrown.com

Four in Five College Grads Who Apply Can’t Get a Job!

In one of the most sobering statistics related to the current economic recession I’ve seen in a while, CNN is reporting that four in five 2009 college graduates who have applied for a job have not gotten one. That means 80% of this year’s college graduates who have applied for work are “graduating into poverty” – moving back home with their parents in horrified disbelief that they are still eating Ramen noodles and unable find a job that requires a high school diploma, let alone a college diploma.

One of the main reasons students experience this unfortunate introduction to the “real world” is because they are among the millions of generic college graduates who have done little or nothing to distinguish themselves during the Dash Period – the time they have between freshman and senior year to brand themselves. Generic people fare no better in the marketplace than generic products – companies will only invest limited dollars and resources in them because they only perceive limited value and opportunity or return on their investment.

Today’s college students are facing the prospect of graduating into a hotbed of economic uncertainty with layoffs and hiring freezes all around. If you are currently in this situation, you can shrug your shoulders and graduate into poverty, using the down economy as an excuse for accepting a menial, unrewarding job with no future prospects after working so hard for four (or more!) years to earn your degree. Or you can roll up your sleeves and do what it takes to be that fifth of every five graduates who gets the job they apply for.

Hopefully, you spent your college career earning good grades, taking leadership positions in extracurricular activities, participating in internships and co-ops, and generally building a name for yourself as a top student and overall performer. If so, now is the time to cash in on all the goodwill you built up in the past four years. Get references from deans and professors, see if a company you once interned for may have an unadvertised opening they’re saving for a proven prospect, let potential employers know about your extracurricular successes that occurred outside of the classroom.

Maybe your college career wasn’t quite so colorful. That’s OK- it’s never too late to start building your brand! Volunteer your skills for a non-profit group and go “above and beyond” to show the heights you’re capable of achieving. If an employer who interests you does not have any openings, ask if you can come on board as an unpaid intern for the summer and then knock their socks off with your effort and talent.

Also, don’t forget to network, network, network. Anyone and everyone is a potential lead for a job. Treat everyone you meet as the key to the launch of your career. Eventually you will be correct, and in the meantime you will build a personal reputation as a friendly, energetic person. Personal branding is just as important as professional branding. Even if you have good professional skills, a negative or dull personality can scare off potential employers.

Stay positive, try your hardest, and take every opportunity possible to prove your worth, even if in the short term it doesn’t offer financial gain. Build your brand the right way today, and the job (and money) you desire will surely come tomorrow!

www.themichaeldbrown.com

A Strong Brand Can Withstand Any Storm

A colleague of mine who lives in New England was recently complaining about some of the crazy weather they’ve been having his way. If you’re familiar with New England weather, you know it is highly unpredictable, and never more so than in the spring. During one week in April, a 90 degree day was followed by a frost warning!

I like to chide my colleague that as a hardy New Englander, he should be ready and able to absorb whatever curve the weather throws his way. Your brand is no different. The “weather” your brand has to deal with these days is turbulent to say the least – economic recession, job losses, company bankruptcies and closures, the collapse of the housing market. Springtime in New England doesn’t sound so bad compared to what is going on in the professional world these days!

But just like a good New England home is fully weatherproofed, your brand should be weatherproofed, too. If unemployment is high, your brand should offer unique professional skills that make you a desirable hire regardless of the wider employment situation. If your company is laying off employees, your brand should let your bosses know you’re too valuable to let go no matter who else is being shown the door. If you are a self-employed contractor or business-owner hunting for clients or customers, your brand reputation should be all the advertising you need.

Take a long, honest look at how hardy your brand is in the face of inclement weather. Is it fully insulated and watersealed, prepared to withstand the most catastrophic of events? Or is it bareboned and leaky, ready to collapse at the first shift in barometric pressure? New Englanders like to say if you don’t like the weather, just wait 15 minutes. The same rule holds true in business. Whatever weather your brand is braving today, the weather tomorrow will be at least slightly different. Make sure your basement doesn’t flood!

www.themichaeldbrown.com

Why Not Give Birth to a Great Brand?

Spring is traditionally associated with birth. Of course babies are born all year long, but as the snow melts and the grass turns green and flowers bloom, understandably people’s minds turn to birth and new beginnings. Traditional spring events such as weddings and graduations could also be considered “births” of a sort, as new families, lives and careers come into existence.

Okay, enough schmaltz. All kidding aside, I do mention spring as a season of birth for a specific reason – spring is the perfect time to give birth (or rebirth) to a happy, bouncy, healthy new brand! Even when the economy is good, winter is a tough time to launch a brand. Hiring is slow, bad weather and the financial impact of holiday shopping has potential clients and customers hunkered down, and many people take vacations to warmer, sunnier climes. A new or rejuvenated brand may get obscured by the dull, gray background.

But as the days grow longer and people’s spirits lighten, the environment becomes much more receptive to the launch of a new brand. Typically, hiring improves in the spring as companies firm up their plans for the coming year and general business activity picks up. Unfortunately, 2009 is not a “typical” year. Unemployment is expected to continue climbing for the next several months, even as some experts are predicting the worst of the recession is over and we should start to see gradual improvement by the second half of the year.

Rather than let continuing economic woes pressure you into postponing the birth of your new brand, use them as an incentive to get that new brand out of gestation and into the world. Use this slow period as an opportunity to nurture your new brand beyond the infant and toddler stages so that by the time things do really start picking up, your bouncing bundle of joy is now a strapping young adult, ready to strike out and define itself. Everyone else who waited till the recession ended (or at least bottomed out) to give births to their new brands will be competing against you with “baby brands” – cute and fun, but not capable of doing much and a lot of work to maintain and nourish. If you ever have been or known a new parent, you are aware of how draining caring for a baby can be!

So give birth to your new brand, sooner rather than later. Even if your existing brand is well-defined and mature, it would hardly hurt to add some youthful flourish and energy to what you have. With a little TLC, you will be able to proudly watch that baby grow and take credit for its accomplishments – just like a real parent, without the crying and talking back!

www.themichaeldbrown.com

Make Sure Your Brand is “Shovel Ready” for Opportunities That Come Your Way

Economic stimulus is all over the news these days, with CEOs of major corporations coming to Washington to beg Congress for money to get their corporations back on the right track. Well you are the CEO of your brand, which is your very own individual corporation. And the federal government may not be likely to stimulate your brand (unless you’ve managed to lose billions of dollars in the last year or so), but nobody’s stopping you from stimulating it yourself.

Let’s assume you don’t have a pile of cash waiting to be infused into your brand-building efforts. What can you do to provide your brand some much-needed stimulus? Your options are almost limitless. Take a class to learn a new skill in your field, or even earn a degree to enhance your knowledge and mastery of your profession. Join a professional networking group, or take an active leadership role in a group to which you already belong. Attend a professional networking event and have at least five meaningful conversations with potential contacts. Volunteer to take on that orphaned project nobody wants to claim at your job and then produce a stunning success. Show up a little earlier in the morning and go home a little later in the afternoon. Call an old friend or colleague you’ve lost touch with and see if you can help each other build your personal brands. Smile at everyone you meet, you never know who is a potential client or customer.

When you stimulate your brand, you make it shovel-ready so that when an opportunity for career advancement comes along, you are ready to take advantage of it. It’s one thing to possess experience and knowledge, but it’s another thing to possess the right experience and knowledge. And even if you possess the right experience and knowledge, unless your brand clearly conveys that fact, you will probably get passed over in favor of somebody who did a better job stimulating their brand and is therefore more shovel ready for the opportunity.

The old saying goes “Opportunity knocks once.” But I’ll fill you in on a little secret: opportunity doesn’t knock. It silently passes to those who have positioned themselves to grab it the second it becomes available. By the time an opportunity is widely known, it is already long gone. Stimulate your brand today, and be shovel ready for that next big break tomorrow.

www.themichaeldbrown.com