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CULTURE
Why successful brands are built from the inside out.
By Reuben Woods
A brand is not what you say it is, it’s what your customer says it is.
While this statement is true, we should all spend a lot more of our time and money understanding our customer. We sometimes don’t realise that one of the biggest ways to delight, surprise and retain our customer is by the experience our people or our product gives. If the experience is broken, then you probably won’t have a customer. And without those customers, our business won’t succeed.
So in order to create a successful brand that is customer-centric, start by looking on the inside.
And how do I do this?
1. Start by clarifying your purpose
Why are you in business beyond making money? This can be quite difficult for some businesses to define, while for others, it is glaringly obvious. Whatever the case, there should always be a reason why you are doing what you are doing, especially if you want a team of people to join you in your mission for business success. If it’s purely transactional to just make money, then you will never have a culture of people who are truly engaged in your company. A team of people who believe in something greater than themselves is a winning team.
2. Define your values
To drive the behaviour of your team and define the way you act as an organisation. It is the compass that guides business decisions and develops the shared belief in where your people are going, how they’re getting there and the ways in which they interact with one another along the way.
Positive customer experience is the key to building value, return customers and profitability. The only way to achieve this is to have a team of people that behave, believe and act in a way that drives a positive customer experience. That may sound like a lot to consider, but it’s not impossible and it’s never too late for a business to implement changes.
3. Define a set of core virtue words
At WOODS, we start by defining a set of core virtue words for the organisations we work with. We ensure this is undertaken with your entire team to get total buy-in and ownership. Core business virtues such as quality, integrity, fun, trust are common and suitable, but management must understand that these words are NOT your values. Any business can choose to have these words, but a good business must go deeper.
Working with WOODS, these words are then turned into behavioural statements that will reflect and drive the way you will act and behave as a business. They are written in a language that reflects your personality to truly engage with your team and who you are as a business. We then create rules for these values, which become the do’s and don’ts for how you engage with your customers.
WAIOTAHI CORE VALUES
“WOODS worked collaboratively with our staff to develop a set of company values
that all of our employees have fully embraced. There has been a positive
switch in our team culture which has aligned in our employees thinking,
attitude and drive to succeed.”
Waiotahi Contractors – CEO
4. Bring your values to life
The key to creating your internal culture is to ensure you don’t leave these value statements stuck on a wall on an A4 sheet at the back of your staffroom. They need to be brought to life and made visible everywhere. All internal initiatives should tie to your values and be celebrated daily, weekly, monthly. Use them to drive recruitment, team KPI’s and ultimately, profitability. The company values also need to be visible to the customer, as they drive the way you act and the experience your customer has with your business.
GENERATION HOMES CORE VALUES
We worked with Generation Homes to help take their traditional
virtues such as ‘Respect’ and ‘Empathy’ to another level – developing and
defining behavioural values to shape their internal culture and ultimately
deliver a better customer experience.
5. The importance of culture
Internal culture is dynamic: it represents both what brings people together, but also what drives people apart. An engaged team with a clear vision drives company profitability, and building a strong culture takes time and commitment. However, it’s worth the effort, as it is arguably the most important part of your brand.
To learn more about how time invested into your internal culture can impact your business contact Reuben on +6421 41 88 60 or reuben@woodsagency.nz
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