Why Brands Go Wrong?

Yes, you read it right. I have my reasons why I have used the word 'brands' instead of 'branding'.

Branding? Can be done with enough financial investment. Call in consultants of all colours and shades ( but it will be better if they are of western origin!) and you have a neat branding package going. Start a TVC blitz and you have people talking about your branding. Sponsor some cool events and you have your logo splashed all over. Call in more consultants and they will tell you how to put a new spin to your story. Really, its that simple. BUT, your brand can still fail!

The 'brand' is the total culmination of what the organization is about. It is the ultimate statement for its existence. Its the summum bonum of your products and services. It is your organization. BUT, what is your organization if it is not your PEOPLE? What is your products and services if your PEOPLE don't deliver them as promised? What is your brand if your PEOPLE don't believe in it? Sound trite simplistic? Sounds common sense? I think it was Ram Charan who once said that common sense is not very common. That's probably why, very little is done to align the PEOPLE to the brand. Many organizations seem to take it for granted that when you have a name and a logo and a brand, their people will fall over heels to live the brand. It never happens.

There needs to be a concerted and sincere effort to get the message across to the people. Not only that, there must be sincere effort taken to gain their feedback. Only when these two things are done, will the people start living the brand on a day to day basis.

Brand and branding fails or succeed because of the people in the organization. So, why not start with them?

Sounds common sense?

The Talking CEO!

Something for all of you to chew on.

A few days ago I had a little professional disagreement with a fellow consultant. I said that the most important function of a CEO or any person who calls himself as the chief decision maker is to 'talk' .ie. to continuously engage his/her employees in a conversation so that employees are able to constantly touch base with the higher hierarchy of the organization. My colleague disagreed. Her contention is that the CEO has better things to do. Really?

What does a CEO do? Through whom does he do the things he wants to do? Who are the messengers who are supposed to carry his messages? Who else but his employees (many CEO's often say they prefer to call them 'my people'). Whatever.

But, the question is do you talk to your people or are you leaving them to their own devices? Are your people well informed of the changes that you are going to demand from them soon? Have they heard from you through your own words about the possible M&A that is going to happen soon? Or are they still in the dark and fearful of their future? Have you explained to them why all these cost cutting measures are necessary? Or, are your people making up all sorts of dooms day scenarios?

It may not sound glamorous for a CEO to say that his major job function is to 'talk'. But, except for the most ignorant, I am sure that the rest of us will understand what he means when he says that. In essence, a CEO's most critical task is to engage his employees in a manner that gives them the confidence to face up to the challenges ahead and the avenue to clear any doubts or lingering uncertainty. And, this 'talking engagement' must be done on a continuous basis. It is no use for a CEO to start taking to his employees only when the organization is in trouble. It will be too late by then.

In my dealings with organizations big and small, the one thing that I often hear is how easy or difficult it is to meet and talk to the respective CEOs. Inevitably,when I come across a group of managers who seem to be passionate about their work and are
actively living the vision, mission and brand promise of their organization, they also praise how easy it is for them to meet and talk to their CEO. And, as you might have guessed already, the opposite is almost always true too.

Focus groups, town halls, division meetings, regional meetings are all fantastic opportunities for the CEO to engage in a conversation with his employees. The problem is that usually all these forums end up as 'instruction giving time' an over time employees tend to view these forums as harbinger of bad news and more work! Can we blame them?

So, I stand by my statement : We need talking CEOs! (you know what I mean!)

Listen to your customers!......For your own sake!

Yet again, there was a letter from a reader of the NST (14 February 2008) lamenting about Malaysia Airlines (MAS) mealboxes. In no uncertain terms, this customer of our national carrier has declared that he has started to use a budget carrier for domestic travels (Air Asia of I presume!) and for international flights, he has started to scout around for other regional carriers (I suppose that means SIA)!.

I read this at about 9 pm last night after a 2-day training program on Customer Focus for Etiqa. And, of course the issue of MAS came up for discussion and we had a lengthy debate on why MAS is apparently trying its best to loose its customers!

I have written here before on MAS’s service standards or rather the apparent lack of it. Things, at least as far as its customers are concerned, don’t seem to have improved that much. I was on a recent flight and I didn’t like the food either. Was I very hungry? No! Could I have waited to be home for a good meal? Yes! Was the issue of food so important for me on a flight? No! So why then I am complaining just as so many other loyal MAS customers? Simple really…..because we were once treated much better. We had once received much better in-flight experience. We had once felt the difference between a budget carrier and a full service carrier. Now, we are confused!

That’s what this is really about! Confused customers of MAS. What does MAS stand for? What does low cost operator with 5 star service mean? Is that even possible? Where is that 5 star service going to be showcased? I which areas of our MAS experience are we going to taste this 5 star service at low cost operator formula?

While we struggle with all these questions, MAS competitors are tempting us to break a bond that we have nurtured for many years. Yet, the temptation is strong and the wondering eyes are justified as the counter offers seem to be genuinely better.

The bottom line of our national carrier is said to be improving or at least that’s what I am told by the media. I have no doubt about that as it is really not that difficult to show bottom line improvement in the short term if you know what to cut and what to slash and what to reduce. The trick is to keep the bottom line healthy in the long run. That needs more than slashing and burning. That needs growth. Growth needs market leadership. Market leadership needs customer loyalty. Customer loyalty needs quality service. Malaysia Airlines is loosing its sense of quality service.

Now, analyze that!

What's in it for Me?

Since sometime the middle of 2007, I have been collecting letters sent to the letter's column in the NST from readers who are unhappy with the various aspects of service provided by Malaysian Airlines (MAS). I have even blogged about the controversy surrounding MAS's decision to switch to meal boxes on regional flights. Thats another story!

Now, what I did with these letters (16 in total) was that I pasted them on 2 manila cards and showed it to the participants of my recent program on Customer Focus. My question was : How would you feel if you are working for a company which gets so many complaints from customers and you read hem on a daily basis in a national newspaper. The unanimous answer was "We will be ashamed"! Yes...that sums it up.

I guess, I made the point of my program with them crystal clear in the first 15 minutes and the rest of the 2-day program was all about "How not to end up like MAS"!
Many times, frontliners are asked to give world class service and often times are required to attend this or that training program. These programs are well intended in the sense that they are aimed at delivering new customer service skills and/or improving upon existing ones. The missing link, however is what does it all mean to them as individuals. Why should THEY provide good service? Why should THEY strive to achieve customer loyalty? Why should THEY bend over backwards to make customers happy? Just so that the company can make a few extra ringgit? I don't think so.

People must have a personal stake in providing excellent service. They must see the connection between excellent service and themselves as individuals. As far as I am concerned, excellent service is a direct result of the good feeling that people gain from providing that service and not merely because customers are happy; that is a by product. Pike's Fish Market should come to your mind right now...

Anyway, the point I am trying to make here is that managers (maybe with the help of consultants) should find ways to make that connection. Out of this connection will come the real meaning of excellent customer service and out of this meaning will come the purpose why they as individuals must at all times strive to provide excellent service. Because, they have a stake in it!

Management by Walking Around

Why is that almost everyone in any organization feel that their leaders are not listening to them enough. The humour goes that "Bosses don't have time to 'turun padang' because they are busy with courses ....Golf Courses!"

Jokes aside, is this true? Or, are employees expect too much from their bosses. After all bosses do have work to do, although at most times employees have no idea what that is!

Or, could it be true that our managers and business leaders have forgotten the simple art of having tea with shop floor workers or the front liners to get firsthand knowledge of what is going on in and around the business?

People like to be appreciated and the one thing that people like to hear which shows that they are appreciated is " What do you think?" This simple question goes somewhere deep into their brains and miraculously their neurotransmitters seem to send the message that they are being appreciated. Otherwise why would the boss want to know what they think? Magical? Simple? Yes!

I find it insulting to the intelligence of employees when bosses are fond of saying that employees have no idea of the difficulties and challenging circumstances in managing the business! Come on! We all know how difficult it is to manage a business especially when you have t suck up to powerful interest groups both from within and without the organization. That still should not stop a manager from being at the pulse of action to hear first hand of what is bothering the employees. Of course, some managers have also told me that they are afraid to ask for feedback from their employees for fear that they will not be able to do anything about is as most of the issues are beyond their control anyway. In other words they dread being labeled NATO (No action, talk only). In my dictionary, NATO also means Not A Team Operator. How do you instill team spirit when you are not bothered to find out what your team thinks or feels or hopes to change.

Of course, listening can be painful. We may hear things we rather not hear. We may hear things which we hoped others have not noticed. But hearing them out now will save a lot of pain later and you will win your team to your side to boot.

So, the Year of the Rat is approaching. This is a good time to do some management by walking. Gong Xi Fa Chai everybody!