Your Employees are The Brand

Annie DiMatteo - 11.3.2009 9:15 AM

Company heads and CEO's nationwide spend hundreds of millions annually, "branding" themselves.  They collectively sit and decide who they want to be.  They come up with this great idea on exactly who they want and need to be, an idea that is guaranteed to set them apart from the competition.  They may even go so far as to redesign their Website and create new collateral materials to show off their new flashy brand.  However, when you sit down to brand your company, if this brand is not communicated to, and lived out by each and every single one of your employees - you've wasted your time and money.

Your staff is your brand, bottom line.  Yes, that one staff member who is in a bad mood and doesn't feel like being at work today - He Is Your Brand.

Experiencing the Brand
While I was out running errands this weekend, I decide to stop at one of my favorite department stores.  I grab a few things to try on, and head back to the dressing rooms...so far just a typical Saturday afternoon.  The store is pretty slow, and I am pretty much the only customer in the fitting rooms.  Thus, I can pretty much hear everything the sales associates are saying to one another.  At first I try to ignore them, but they gradually got louder and louder, and I was eventually unable to block them out.  There are two girls working the fitting rooms, and they are just chatting up a storm, as though they are at a casual lunch together, not work.  First they're talking about how long they have to work that day, and how they are "so ready to be off work already."  They talk about the fact that they would give anything to be home sleeping right then; anything other than being at work.  This continues, and gets even worse as I come out to grab my second round of clothing.  By round three, I actually began to feel like I was interrupting THEM - like I am an inconvenience to them, making them halt their conversation long enough to *shudder* actually help me, the paying customer!

Reading the Brand
When I left the store, I got to thinking - "I wonder what the 'brand' of the store is, according to the owner?"  Curiosity got the better of me, so I went to the company's Website to read about their proclaimed 'brand'.  According to their Website, this company is one of America's most admired companies, they donate a percentage of their profits to the community, and they award millions of dollars annually to schools nationwide - "wow, what a GREAT brand!" - in theory.  Too bad while I was there experiencing the brand first hand, this was not the brand I lived.

Based on my experience, their brand is two obnoxious girls that could care less about me, much less the community as a whole.  Their brand is people not wanting to be at work, and not really caring about the way their customers are treated.  What a shame this company put all this effort into defining this amazing brand, only to fall short by not making sure each and every employee lives that brand every day!

Brands Falling Short
It is unfortunate how often situations like the one I experienced this weekend actually do occur.  I recently made an emergency visit to an After Hours doctor, and was saddened to see this same lack of "brand" in my experience.  As I was filling out my paperwork, workers were debating about switching shifts so they could have the weekend off.  Then they were complaining to one another how hungry they were, and how bad they wanted to go on break - all while I was sitting there waiting on them to come help me!  To top if off, they accidentally forgot to write my name on the lab tests, so the entire trip was a waste.  You want to know what their Website says their brand is...."...we offer the highest quality medical care possible....the attention you receive is critical...we do everything possible so that you feel better."  Hmmm....not quite the brand I saw when I was there!

The Bottom Line(s)
Who cares what CEO/decision makers decided the brand is - if it doesn't get portrayed in every action by every employee, then it is not your brand.

Your Brand is Your Staff.
Your Brand is Every Person Your Customers Interact With.
Your Brand is Not Just the Words on Your Website.

Your brand is each and every experience your customers have when doing business with you.  Take a closer look at the face of your brand, and make sure it's what you want it to be!

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