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Category: Personal Development

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Marketing Personal Development Sales

To Find Success, An Entrepreneur Must Constantly Sell to Business Relationships

Many would agree that selling services and products are at the foundation of any successful business. If there aren’t any sales, there’s no money to keep up with bills and the business collapses. But there are so many less obvious “sales” that are just as crucial to your success. Without making these sales, and consistently, your costs will skyrocket. You must make these sales with your support team, not with your prospects.

Your support team is comprised of your suppliers, employees, and outsourced services. You’ll have to use a unique approach for each of these “sales,” so that they will be motivated to provide quality service, take on additional duties, and extend your credit and terms. But your suppliers, employees, and outsourced services all have one thing in common—they need to believe that you have their best interests are at heart before they will give their effort, time, products, and loyalty to you. When they do, though, they can significantly cut your costs, turnover rates, and your need for cash. This significantly boosts your chances for success!

Suppliers. Show that you appreciate the risks suppliers take with your new or growing company. Share your challenges, aspirations, and new opportunities regularly. This will relieve some of their fears once they take a chance by extending your credit and terms—therefore enabling you to grow. Your suppliers worry that you will pay bills late or be a “beg pay.” Create a long-term plan so they know you won’t ditch them for someone else. They have to be assured that they can grow along with you. It takes a lot of time and strategy to prove that you really do have their best interests at heart.

Employees. Your people are the key to your success, but only if they understand that you’re giving them security, a career opportunity, a chance to contribute, guidance, respect, and time off. They need to know exactly how their job affects sales (however removed it may be), why their work is important, and how it shapes their career. Prove that you have their best interests at heart so they will appreciate performance-based pay, bonus structures, and more decision-making influence.

Outsourced Services. Show that you appreciate your outsourced services by communicating your expectations. Make sure you have policies in place that are clear on deadlines and requirements, that constantly improve communication, and that explain the reasons behind your requirements. Make it obvious that you’re easy to work with—make sure your criticism is constructive, and that you give more praise than criticism. Try asking, “What can we do on our end to help you be more efficient?” That can be an effective “sales pitch” for these people.

Plain and simple: Negotiating your business relationships is a sale in itself. They need to know that they can trust you, and that you fit into their growth and development. Understand what their fears are, and work to relieve them. You can do this by demonstrating that you are a true partner and ally, and you will live up to their expectations. You want to help them reach their goals—not just your own.

The only alternative to making these “sales” is to waste money on turnover, high interest, higher supply costs, short payment terms, and lost corporate knowledge. Startups cannot afford to lose this money—it’s better spent growing your business.

This concept is not usually taught in school or covered by the entrepreneurial media. But once you prove you really do have your team’s best interests at heart, you will spend less and generate more!

For more, read on: http://c-suitenetworkadvisors.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

 

Categories
Marketing Personal Development Sales

Sales Culture, Elevated.

This article is part three of a three-part series on the future of sales performance.

In parts 1 and 2, I wrote that:

  • CRM alone not enough; in fact, many companies have found it’s the tail that wags the dog.
  • Process, and even more importantly, methodology are real difference-makers. Coaching process and methodology makes performance improvement sustainable.

In this article, we’re going to dig a little deeper into the coaching that drives long term sales success. Sustaining world-class performance is about sales culture; culture that ingrains process into the operating rhythm of the organization. Process and methodology do no good unless they are internalized by a sales organization, and the process of internalizing establishes a strong sales culture. When a methodology becomes the default go-to-customer approach for your organization, it enables the three goals of a sales system:

  1. Drive deal-winning behaviors, not simple activity-based measures.
  2. Re-vector at-risk deals, identifying and mitigating risks with opportunities.
  3. Replicate winning across, raising the performance of all sellers in the team.

Dynamic coaching culture

CSO Insights has conducted extensive research supporting the value of a dynamic coaching culture.  The research shows that companies whose coaching culture captures analytics from successful sales, refines sales data into define winning sales behaviors – then supports sales leaders as they coach those behaviors across the sales force outperform their peers.  Dynamic coaching culture is different than simple coaching:  there is a closed loop between results and how process and methodology is emphasized by the organization.  This loop drives self-sustainment and continuous improvement.

Dynamic coaching cultures experience far superior outcomes than average sales organizations:

  • A higher percentage of these companies meet revenue plan.
  • More reps make quota. The gains come from across the sales force, not just a few high performers
  • Win rates are higher. This means forecasts are more accurate
  • Late loss rates are lower. Fewer of those resource-sucking late losses that ruin sales productivity
  • Staff turnover is lower. Lose fewer of the people you want to keep, rehab more of the marginal performers, converting them to keepers.

A robust self-sustaining coaching culture builds the foundation for two things:

  1. Sales performance. The outcomes above are worthwhile goals in themselves, but…
  2. Self-sustaining culture (manager bench strength, coaching acumen, leadership succession/career path). Building a sales culture to last means building sales careers worth having.

The Past, Present and Future of Dynamic Coaching

Let’s look at where we’ve been, and where we’ve led our industry: coaching on CRM-resident tools.

I’ve worked with Miller Heiman Group (and its predecessor, Miller Heiman) tools for almost 30 years. Success in my business is all about delivering outcomes for clients. The reason Miller Heiman Group is the largest in the B2B space is that we’re the partner sales organizations keep engaged with longer…we have the least leaky bucket…growing our clients is how we grow.

Based upon thousands of client engagements, I can tell you with absolute conviction that the key to long-term success is in not conducting training events, but executing long term change in selling behavior organization-wide.  A successful engagement is almost universally the one with a robust component of sales manager coaching, where front line managers become the primary change agents.

The gold standard of coaching is personally diagnosed and delivered by the front-line sales manager (FSM).  This kind of coaching is high-touch, requiring not only discipline by the FSM, but a corporate capability in developing coaches and prioritizing coaching activity over the many other demands on an FSMs time.

While manager-delivered coaching is preferable, it is not always available at the right time for every deal.  We have also noticed that a large proportion of coaching is on a core set of selling behaviors.  That is, managers tend to diagnose and coach the same behaviors over and over.  With the right methodology and the right CRM system (one that helps track deal-moving behaviors, not meaningless activities), an intelligent coaching platform is possible.

Where you can go:

  • Instead of manager-initiated intervention, how about system-led?
    • Not today’s activity-based prompts. Selling behavior-based prompts…seller actions that moves deals, not activity that occupies selling time
  • A rules engine, based upon 40 years of Miller Heiman Group expertise, which can diagnose those repetitive selling
  • AI/big data capabilities which can take it even further.

Where are You?  Where Do You Want to Go?

When you’re tracking and managing to activities, today’s CRM can work just fine.  On the other hand, when you’re trying to establish a rigorous selling culture with a consistent management cadence, you can more efficiently accomplish the three goals of a world-class sales system::

  1. Drive winning selling actions. This means actions, not activities.
  2. Change deal outcomes more rapidly identify at-risk opportunities and figure out how to re-vector them toward success.
  3. Replicate success. Learn what behaviors predict success in your business, and turn them into a rules engine for your sales tool to automatically recommend.

We Can Take You There

Miller Heiman Group has leveraged over 40 years of sales performance expertise into a powerful set of tools.  They have bundled methodology with a dynamic coaching application, which can be freestanding or integrated with a CRM system. It helps front line sales leaders by lightening the routinized part of their coaching load, allowing them to concentrate their time on higher level opportunity strategy.  Sellers become more effective by building sound selling behavior habits.  Finally, senior sales leaders see improved results, and have insight-producing analytics into how to improve sales even more.

I’m excited about this new capability, and am thrilled to offer it to clients. Contact me to discuss whether we might drive winning actions, change deal outcomes, and replicate success in your organization.

Categories
Best Practices Growth Management Personal Development Women In Business

Meet Lauretta Hayes

Lauretta is an entrepreneur with over 35 years of experience in the financial and management arena. She has demonstrated an incredible, innate talent in organizing and simplifying the complex mechanisms of business.

In our conversations, we discuss tactics to make more money, the importance of authenticity in leadership (rather than domination), as well as many other aspects of empowered and effective thinking for entrepreneurs.

Watch my interview with her here!

If you’d like to to learn more about your level of Peak Performance skills, go to http://masteryunderpressure.net or join ourFacebook community at Mastery Under Pressure Community.

Categories
Marketing Personal Development

You Already Have a Personalized Web Page on Your Site

OK, I don’t know for sure if that headline is right about you, but let’s just see. You probably are interested in personalizing your customer experience–most companies are–but you are put off by the complexity and expense. So, it might surprise you that you likely already have a personalized page on your website.

It’s your site search results page.

Every person gets to put in a different search and they get back a list of (we hope) relevant results. So, it truly is personalized.

Now, you might be worried because you’ve never thought about your site search as delivering personalization–and because you know that page is probably not as good an experience as it should be. If you are truly serious about personalization, site search is the easiest place to start, for several reasons:

You’ve already paid for it.

You don’t need some fancy whiz-bang new technology to bring in, so you don’t need to justify a big expenditure and you don’t need to run a great deal of risk. You just have to get more value out of what you already are paying for it, which is usually an easy sell.

You can drive great business value from improving just this one page.

On most sites, the site search results page is one of the busiest pages on the site–usually in the top ten and sometimes neck-and-neck with the home page for most visited.

Your best customers use it.

Studies show the site searches convert anywhere from 43% to 600% more than non-searchers–and its probably not because your site search works so well. Instead, it is because your best customers–the ones most convinced to buy from you–stick around and use site search when less-qualified prospects abandon your site completely. Improving site search targets your best customers when they are ready to buy.

It can be the basis of more personalization.

Imagine if your site search engine was so good that it provided excellent results for your most popular searches. You could suddenly start using the search engine as a content recommendation engine, where the words on your page pick out the teasers for related content, similar to how Google AdSense works, by putting relevant ads on a page. If you’ve been struggling with conversion rate optimization, up-sell, and cross-sell, this is where you can start.

With personalized customer experience all the rage, you can take the first step in that direction by measuring the effectiveness of your site search and improving it. Who knows? Once you have your first personalized experience delivering value, maybe it will be easier to justify that big personalization investment.

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

The ULTIMATE Way to Invest Your Time as a Leader

Leaders, I have a quick quiz for you:

  • Name 5 recent Olympic Gold Medalists.
  • Name the 5 wealthiest business owners in the world.
  • Who won the Grammy for Album of the Year in any of the last 3 years?
  • List 6 people who have won a Pulitzer Prize.

How’d you do? Not so hot, huh? I have another quiz for you and I think you’ll have an easier time with this one.

  • List 3 people who taught you something worthwhile.
  • Name one person who encouraged you.
  • Name one person who took time to answer your questions or who inspired you.
  • Think of someone who took interest in helping you and developing your skills.

A little easier to recall, right? The point is, the greatest leaders and coaches — those who really make a difference — aren’t necessarily the most famous or notorious, but rather, the ones who take time to invest in people.

What kind of investments are you making?

I meet with our financial advisor twice a year and he updates my husband and I on how our investments are paying interest and dividends. Before working with this financial advisor, we were just spending our money without any conscious thought of the long-term implications of our actions. We weren’t giving much thought to our future or to what we would eventually leave behind.

The smallest interactions today create a legacy that will live on beyond you. As a senior level executive, frontline manager, or CEO, when you take the time to invest in people, you will also receive dividends — of a different sort. You are making a mark that can’t be erased. Make it a goal to consciously leave a positive legacy by investing in others. What kind of legacy will you leave?

As a leader, you have lots of experience and know-how. By “investing” in others, I mean take time with them, give them your attention, and mentor them. Are you transferring your knowledge, wisdom, skills, and even shortcuts to others?  When you share your experience and expertise with others you not only help that team member but you benefit the organization, as well. When you sow seeds of encouragement, you inspire self-confidence and determination, which ultimately can impact the whole team’s bottom line.

In the first few years of my leadership consultant career, I worked with a mentor and coach. When I ran to him with a dilemma, he rarely came out and told me what to do. Instead, he would listen, and ask me questions that would spark my thinking. His questions often challenged me to think outside the box and to doubt my assumptions. I learned a lot from him and yet, I don’t think he ever preached, directed, or demanded a thing of me. He simply drew the answers out of me and subtly shared his wisdom and knowledge.

As a result of my mentor’s investment in me, I became a much more valuable team member and I know the organization reaped those benefits. Years later, I often find myself using those same techniques with others.

Do you act as a role-model for others? As a leader, you are being watched! Others are looking to your example to follow. Mentoring a team member or a colleague can be as simple as taking the time to answer their questions, develop their skills, and patiently correct their mistakes.

Each time you take an extra moment to explain not only what and how you’re doing what you’re doing, but why you’re doing it, you instill a sense of ownership in team members. When they can see the bigger picture and the reasoning or logic behind the task, they will have a greater commitment to doing the job well.

Whether it was a counselor, coach, a teacher, a parent, or a successful business owner, someone gave you a hand or modeled the way for you. Will you pay it forward?

Take a look at who is around you. Who can you invest in? I challenge you to review how and where you’re investing your most valuable resource — your time. Your investment in people will bring you the most rewarding dividends of all.

Jennifer Ledet, CSP, is a leadership consultant and professional speaker (with a hint of Cajun flavor) who equips leaders from the boardroom to the mailroom to improve employee engagement, teamwork, and communication.  In her customized programs, leadership retreats, keynote presentations, and breakout sessions, she cuts through the BS and talks through the tough stuff to solve your people problems.

For more resources on leadership and employee engagement, be sure to sign up for our monthly Ezine and you will receive our report: “7 of Your Biggest People Problems…Solved.”

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Four Signs You’re Sabotaging Your Team (and How to Stop)

Managing for Maximum Performance

Leading Questions: Twelve Powerful Tools for Your Leadership Toolbox

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Investing Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

How Do You Expand Your Mind for Greater Success?

 “You expand your mind based on the way you think. To heighten that expansion, focus on the way you think.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

“If you could be everywhere at the same time, where would you be?” Puzzled, the recipient of the question said, “If I could be everywhere at the same time, I wouldn’t have to decide where to be.” Wrong, was the reply. “Even if you could be everywhere you’d still have to focus on being in the place that offered the greatest possibility for success”, was the retort.

As we go through life, we learn new things every day. Those that apply learned lessons from one environment into another maximize their learning.

Some people discover new ways to solve problems, apply that new knowledge against other problems and discover that something has changed for the better. Then, they stop, never realizing that they’re more applications for which that new knowledge can prove to be beneficial.

There are times we seek to solve a problem and only focus on one solution. We do so without considering other possible solutions. For example, let’s say you’re looking for a hammer to drive a nail. If you only focus on finding a hammer, you’d omit the thought that you might use a shoe, brick, piece of wood, or any object that wasn’t fragile for that purpose.

By shifting your paradigm from needing a hammer and instead focusing it on what you might use to solve the problem, you expand your thought process. In doing that, you discover new ways to address other challenges. But, you must possess an open mind before that can occur.

Throughout my consultations, trainings, and presentations, I suggest to people that they think about the way they think. I provide the insight above to highlight that.

If you become more aware of the problems you encounter and the resolutions to solve them, you’ll increase your awareness of the wondrous ways of conquering them. That will take you to a higher plane of success from which you’ll view your life’s opportunities from a whole new spectrum … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations? 

When negotiating, you’ll encounter challenges and impasses that hampers a negotiation’s success. The determining factor for success will lie in the way you attempt to address such challenges. If you rely on tried and true solutions that worked in the past and they prove to be ineffective, you might succumb to the challenge. Instead, if you think with an expanded mind, one that’s not fixated on one solution, you can turn impasses into learning experiences that lead to greater insights.

So, constantly ask yourself in a negotiation and other facets of your life, how can I use what I’ve learned in one environment and apply it to another situation.

If you constantly look at situations as entries to greater opportunities and insights, your endeavors will adopt a platform from which greater knowledge will flow. First, you must open your mind to having an open mind about how you perceive challenges, problems, and situations. It’s through that open mind that new and greater success will flow.

Remember, you’re always negotiating! 

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

#Mind #Success #Emotion #Lies #Business #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #liars #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

Categories
Best Practices Growth Management Personal Development

Can You Be More Convenient For Your Customers?

There is a very simple question to use in a survey as a follow-up to the simple survey question, like the Net Promoter Score question (NPS). For those that may not be familiar with the NPS survey question, it is simply this: On a scale of zero to ten, what is the likelihood that you would recommend us to a colleague, friend, or family member. This simple question gives you an idea if your organization did well enough for the customer to recommend you. Over the years I’ve taught a concept I refer to as the One Thing Question. This follow-up question is:

Is there one thing you can think of that would make doing business with us better?

The idea is that if you have a number of customers suggesting the same “one thing,” you need to pay attention. And, if the ideas are coming from the customers giving you high ratings, then the suggestions are giving you the opportunity to improve on greatness.

So, here’s a twist on the typical one thing question. Let’s assume you are customer focused and your organization is providing a level of customer service that earns consistent high scores. Where can you go from here? In addition to the great service, be easy and convenient to do business with. That’s the subject of my new book, The Convenience Revolution: How to Deliver a Customer Service Experience that Disrupts the Competition and Creates Fierce Loyalty. This is the next level of customer service. So, the twist on the one thing question is this:

Is there one thing you can suggest that would make doing business with us easier or more convenient?

Some companies make convenience part of, if not all of, their value proposition. They know it separates them from their competition. Huntington Bank has extended hours for their customers, so they can bank after normal business hours and on weekends. CLEAR provides a solution to the frequent traveler that hates waiting in security lines in the airport. Walmart has strategically placed their stores so that 90% of people in the US are less than 10 minutes from a Walmart. Restaurants that choose to use the NoWait app lets their guests add their names to the waiting list at a busy restaurant and time their arrival so that when they show up they are near the top of the list.

So, what one thing (or more) can you do to be more convenient for your customers? Come up with the answer and you may get more business from your existing customers and steal away customers from your

Categories
Best Practices Body Language Entrepreneurship Human Resources Investing Management Marketing Negotiations Skills Women In Business

Beware of the 7 Most Deadly Mistakes Negotiators Make

“People that make deadly mistakes will eventually be befallen by them.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

To win more negotiations, you must #beware of the 7 most #deadly #mistakes that #negotiators make when #negotiating. To ignore these deadly mistakes is to negotiate at your peril.

1. They omit planning stage of negotiation

There’s value in preparing for a negotiation. You get to experience what might occur during the negotiation which prepares you for that circumstance. Inexperienced negotiators rush to a negotiation without considering the complexities that might occur. That leaves them exposed and vulnerable to chance.

  1. In this process, consider what a winning strategy might be for you and the other negotiator.
  2. Consider how you’ll get back on track if you find yourself off of it.
  3. Consider what you’ll disclose, along with how you’ll do it, and what you’ll settle for (Note: In some cases, talking less can enhance your position. It’ll allow you to gain more insight).
  4. Control emotions – Assess how you’ll act/react if certain proposals are offered. Be mindful of offering ultimatums. They can be the death knell of a negotiation.

2. They don’t position themselves properly

In every negotiation, the way you’re viewed will determine how the other negotiator engages you. Thus, if you position yourself as someone that reflects the other negotiator’s style, he’ll perceive you as more of an equal.

  1. Part of the positioning process entails building relationships.
  2. Consider the degree of confidence you’ll display (too much and he may perceive you as overbearing, too little and he may perceive you as being weak).

3. They don’t consider the opposing style the other negotiator might use

Negotiators use different styles when negotiating. Know what style the other negotiator might use during your negotiation. Be mindful that good negotiators alter their style based on circumstances.

  1. Hard style negotiator (i.e. I don’t give a darn about what you want; this is a zero-sum negotiation.)
  2. Soft style negotiator (i.e. can’t we all just get along?)
  3. Bully – Be wary of the negotiator that attempts to bully you. Note the difference in his characteristics from the hard style of negotiator. He’ll be more brisk, non-caring, rude, and demeaning.

4. They fail to create exit points in the negotiation

They’ll be times when a negotiation will not go as expected. To offset lingering longer than necessary, set points to exit the negotiation based on circumstances.

  1. Example, if the other negotiator becomes belligerent about a point that creates an impasse, consider exiting the negotiation.
  2. State that the time appears not to be right to continue the negotiation and prepare to exit.
  3. Note any demeanor changes in the other negotiator. If it changes for the better, you will have conveyed that he strayed too far.

5. They don’t read or understand body language

Body language and nonverbal clues add or detract from what’s said. Learn to discern hidden meanings to gain insight into the mental thought process that’s occurring in the mind of the other negotiator.

6. They’re not aware of value

Value can expose itself in many forms. It doesn’t have to be monetary. The more you’re aware of the other negotiator’s value proposition (i.e. what he wants from the negotiation and why), the greater the opportunity to get what you want by giving him what he’s seeking.

7. They fail to perform negotiation postmortems

There’s a richness of knowledge in performing a negotiation postmortem. You can gather insights into what occurred compared to what you thought would occur. From those insights, you can learn greater negotiation skills and become a better negotiator.

When negotiating, always beware of the 7 most deadly mistakes that negotiators make. If you avoid these mistakes, your reward will display itself in more winning and easier negotiations … and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating! 

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com 

To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.TheMasterNegotiator.com/greg-williams/

#Mistakes  #Fight #Negativity #cyber, cyberbullying #Management #SmallBusiness #Money #Negotiating #combat #negotiatingwithabully #bully #bullies #bullying #Negotiations #PersonalDevelopment #HandlingObjections #Negotiator #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #psychology #NegotiationPsychology

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

5 Quick Leadership Tips to Navigate Hurricane Season

Imagine you are the captain, the leader, the senior-level executive in charge of your team, your crew.  If you’re moping around spouting gloom and doom, exactly who are you helping? Inspire your people to focus on the possibilities and draw out the best that each individual has to give.

A few years ago, before taking off for a cruise I had planned, my cruising mates were concerned about a hurricane that was heading our way. I was looking forward to this vacation so much that I simply didn’t want to hear about a hurricane. In a way, I guess I was in denial. I didn’t watch the weather forecasts and continued packing bathing suits and sunscreen. Are you still packing your bikini, ignoring a potential downpour in your business?

There are so many forecasts for potential hurricanes during hurricane season down here in the south. Where you live, you might face a stormy season such as a team conflict, a business transaction gone awry, or an employee crisis. Many people are tempted to wring their hands and moan about how bad things are. Why not try the approach of mind over matter? I’m not naive enough to think that you can pull the covers over your head and wait for the sun to come out. No, what I’m suggesting is that you focus on what you can do for your organization, rather than what you can’t do.

Here are

5 quick tips to help leaders navigate a stormy season:

  1. Challenge everyone to be creative
  2. Communicate the situation clearly to your employees
  3. Ask for their input
  4. Reassert your commitment to them and to the organization
  5. Be resourceful and innovative!

Henry Ford said

Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re probably right.

I am a big believer in this philosophy.

And you might find it interesting, we did not encounter the hurricane! I have no idea where it went because I never did watch the weather forecast. Here’s to effective conflict management, clear communication, and smooth sailing ahead for your team!

 

To receive solutions to your people problems in your inbox every month, and to receive our report: “7 of Your Biggest People Problems…Solved,” click here.

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Jennifer Ledet, CSP, is a leadership consultant and professional speaker (with a hint of Cajun flavor) who equips leaders from the boardroom to the mailroom to improve employee engagement, teamwork, and communication.  In her customized programs, leadership retreats, keynote presentations, and breakout sessions, she cuts through the BS and talks through the tough stuff to solve your people problems

Photo source

Categories
Marketing Personal Development

The 7 Components of Brand Identity That Develop Your CPG Brand

What makes your CPG brand recognizable? What distinguishes it from the crowd? It doesn’t matter what you think. It’s what your customers think! You may be able to slightly influence what they think, but at the end of the day, it’s what they think.

Despite what some people say, most brands aren’t destroyed by competition—they’re destroyed by self-inflicted wounds! These are caused by marketing people who mean well, who think they’re in control, and try to develop a brand identity based on what they prefer, not necessarily what your customers prefer. In other words, your customers own your brand—you don’t!

Any conversation about brand identity must begin with this humble yet crucial recognition. Sure, you can do things to sway their thinking, but proceed with caution when creating your brand identity. Make sure it’s on a solid foundation of what your customer already thinks is important!

Image

How is your CPG displayed to your customer? Is it on a retail shelf, floor display, or on a screen? Is your customer 2 feet away, 4 feet away, or 20 feet away? Is it on both a billboard and a business card? Is it different for each situation?

 Is it surrounded by other brands? How does it separate itself from them? Do its colors make it stand out? What about the logo, name, catchphrase, label, trade dress, package, and themes? Is it obvious to your customer what you’re selling? Is your packaging color-coded and clearly marked so the warehouseperson, trucker, store manager, and clerk each know what you’re selling?

Is your name memorable, relatable, and easy to pronounce? Does it have anything to do with your product? Can you recognize it from a distance? Could you pick it out from the slew of other branded products on the shelf if you were looking for it?

Does your trade dress change for events, seasons, and holidays? Does it rotate often to stay fresh?

Is your label artwork uncluttered and neat with sans-serif fonts and plenty of white space? These are just a few things you need to think about when creating your brand image.

Recognition

Is your brand easily recognizable?

What is your brand identity’s defining and most memorable feature? Have people seen it before in your advertising or online? Will they recognize its originality when they get to the store?

What efforts have you made for them to remember your brand? Is it something they’ve seen before? Is it something that comes to mind whenever they think about some feature of your branded product? Is it an unforgettable shape or color? Does your label, trade dress, or package show third-party endorsements from people your customers already know?

Or, have your sales been consistent enough that you’ve made a reputation for providing value that your customer identifies with your brand? This takes time and skilled distribution management to achieve, but it has allowed many dependable brands to succeed. In this case, a nonsense name or family name has existed long enough to stand its ground. This approach isn’t recommended for newly branded products. This type of brand recognition takes years of consistency and excellent customer service.

When you ‘improve’, freshen up, or alter your image, do you practice strategic evolution, or careless and shocking revolution? Is the brand “gone” all of a sudden?

Position

How is your brand perceived by the customer?

How do you place your brand by price? What is the price at which most branded products in your category sell, or the velocity price point? Is it the same as your price? If so, how do you compete? Do you deliver on quantity or quality? Or do you choose to appeal to different customer values, like awards, endorsements, or status?

Are you below the velocity price point and trying to undercut the pack? Is your customer willing to accept less to save more money? Do they expect less? Does a relatively lower price mean more convenience? Or, are you above the velocity price point, where your customers believe they are paying more for better quality? Or are you charging more out of necessity to deliver more value to stay relevant? And, does your brand image reflect value? What about your package, trade dress, and label? Do you use medallions, gold ink, or traditional style on your label to communicate quality? Or do you use reviews and endorsements?

What do your packaging choices communicate? Does it tower above the others to imply quantity or value? For instance, we’ve noticed that people think taller packages translate to greater volume. A one-liter box of wine is seen as less than a 750-ml. package due to its shorter stature.

Which category are you in? And which sub-category within the category are you in? All of this makes a big difference in how your customers see you. Changing your brand after it’s established could potentially push away your customers who are used to seeing your brand in your former category. Be cautious!

Promise

What does your customer expect of your brand?

This is where many brands fail! They wrongly believe that they control their brand promise. They think that the brand image they’ve advertised online, through marketing, and in their trade dress is a direct message to the customer about what to expect from their product, their brand—even their company!

While your customer does get their first impression about what to expect from these initiatives, they ultimately own your brand promise. Their expectations drive loyalty, advocacy, and most importantly, sales. When they change brands, it’s usually because their brand let them down. It didn’t meet their expectations.

What are those expectations, exactly? Quantity, quality, appearance, price, status, utility, availability, transparency, popularity, and various other factors that your customer notices. If you change just one of them, get ready for the marketplace to react. Customers are loyal to brands they rely on. Finding a new brand is stressful. What will they buy now? How many brands will they have to sift through to find what you gave them, but they somehow lost?

And what about integrity? Do you deliver on your promises? Does your branded product constantly deliver the same or better benefits and features over time? Your customer’s expectations are molded by their experiences with your product. Don’t frustrate them by making unexpected changes.

Are your branded products dependable? Can your customers rely on them? Are they always in stock? If not, your customers will blame you, and see your brand as undependable.

Personality

Does a fictitious character or a spokesperson represent your brand?

Is there a face behind your brand, someone who’s accountable for delivering your promise to the customer? Is it someone recognizable, like a celebrity? Is it you? Is it the President, CEO, or Founder of your company? Does anyone look them straight in the eye and guarantee your brand?

Does a cartoon character, mascot, or specific style convey some feature of your brand? Or does your brand have a personality of its own? Is it reliable, fun, strong, distinguished, powerful, or carefree?

Your brand’s personality will boost your brand’s position, image, and promise. A personal guarantee can turn customers into supporters, and can encourage first-time buyers.

Aside from the physical qualities it delivers, what does your brand stand for? Are you an advocate for your community? Are you a green producer? Are you a good neighbor? Are you an open-minded employer? Where do you stand on issues crucial to your customers’ health and welfare? To put it simply, are you a good person? Now more than ever before, customers vote with their money. Do you give them a good reason to vote for you and what your brand stands for?

“Brand width”

How many products can you offer before your brand collapses? Just like bandwidth, there’s a cap on how many SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) your brand can hold. If you exceed your brand width, retailers will need to ask which products you want to get rid of to make room for the new ones.

You’ll exceed your brand width when your production and marketing teams start to think success comes from having more products rather than more sales. More products doesn’t always translate to greater profits or more sales. It may actually cheapen or confuse your brand in your consumers’ and retail buyers’ eyes.

It seems logical at first. By simply introducing a new product or extending a product line, you’ll get more retail space. But then, it turns into a fight to see how many products your brand can actually support. This is all based on the incorrect assumption that shelf space is unlimited, or that there is an unlimited amount of mind-share when it comes to sales and distribution. But there isn’t! Your brand width is limited!

When a brand collapses, it usually withdraws to its core offerings, and for good reason. It’s easier to manage, and it’s easy to get and keep shelf space. Are too many products hurting your brand image?

Availability

Is your brand still on the shelf?

The absolute worst customer experience happens when your CPG brand customer can no longer find your brand where they shop. Maybe it’s not in stock. Maybe it’s in the back. Maybe it was discontinued. Maybe your distributor got on the retail buyer’s bad side, and now he’s no longer buying anything from them. The reason doesn’t matter—your customer won’t blame your retailer or the distributor. They’ll blame you. It’s your brand’s fault. Now it’s “too hard to get” and “unreliable” in their eyes.

A lot of marketers and brand builders take the distribution process for granted, but all the time, effort, and money spent on CPG branding is lost as soon as it goes out of stock. There can’t be a conversation about brand identity without a deep understanding and appreciation for the distribution process.

How can your labeling, packaging, and cartons be designed to make it through the distribution process easily, without any missed deliveries, confusion, or misunderstandings? What do you need to do to guarantee delivery and keep your brand stocked in retail? How about to ensure proper placement, pricing, and advertising at the point of sale? 

A monumental part of your brand identity is a reputation for reliability. This starts with dependable and convenient access, and doesn’t end until the shelf has been restocked. Retail buyers can only measure sales. Once your product is out of stock, they can’t judge the sales you would’ve made if your product were stocked the whole time. A brand can be discontinued for poor sales due to wrong pricing, wrong placement, or poor inventory control. The physical distribution system puts your brand image on the line! Your customer can’t buy it if it isn’t there!

As you can see, brand identity is a multidimensional arrangement of crucial elements. Each of them needs to be carefully developed, executed, and sustained. Brand identity is not the destination—it’s the ongoing journey that requires nonstop diligence. When each of these aspects is considered, your customers will be more likely to proudly say, “That’s my brand!”

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