Dale Smith, Author at Bridge • Page 6 of 6

Inside our brand DNA

Posted on 16th July 201525th January 2018 by Dale Smith

Last week Bridge celebrated 10 years in business, and in that time I have seen an industry come alive across the UK and globally. We are often so struck by the latest gadget launch or advancement in technology that we forget the advancements in how we view people and brand.

From my early days when call centres became contact centres, all the way through to today’s explosion of social media, new terminology and new ideas – it has been quite a journey. Bridge’s timeline is only 10 years in length and in that time the Bridge brand has acquired so many wonderful experiences to tell as part of its brand story. What stories sit inside the timelines of some of our more established institutions? If the walls could talk…. or can they?

Over the past few days I have be researching storytelling and how this can be better used in emotionally connecting our people to our brand story. I am looking for great examples of companies that instil pride, passion and purpose as part of their employee engagement strategy. This comes at a great time as Scott Northcutt, Senior VP of HR for Bacardi speaks at our June 2nd BridgeTalks. Here is an amazing example of a brand that uses its proud history wisely, as both part of its active customer marketing and as part of building its internal culture.

Bacardi is the world’s largest privately held spirits company and the word ‘passion’ is very much part of the Bacardi brand story and culture, as well as being one of their brand values. This started me thinking about the word and its true meaning. Bacardi’s global campaign ‘untameable’ is an amazing example of how passion has been a driving force behind the brand since its beginning. One ad says: ‘Earthquakes, fires, exile, prohibition – sorry fate – you picked the wrong family.’ It takes viewers on a roller coaster ride through history, showing tipping points that would have ended its journey if not for the true grit and passion of its owners to survive.

We often think of words like ‘innovation’ as looking to the future. This is an amazing word to run along your brand’s timeline, pulling out those moments in its journey that exemplify that value. Values are not just words for today – they should be part of your brand’s DNA. It is not the job of management or marketing to make up values so they are fit for purpose. It should be viewed through both the eyes of an historian and futurologist as these values make up your brand personality and are the greatest driver of your employee culture.

Looking back to Bacardi and the word passion, as one of its values it can openly share its story on how this strong emotion had driven success and its people throughout its proud history. At Bridge we use the phrase ‘turning wordings into actions’ and talk about this in either our present and future states, however a wonderful exercise in building a brand story is to run this over the brand time line. Pulling out great stories of when the brand has overcome challenges and diversity. We all come with a few scars, but the things that make us human are the stories we can tell. If brands are alive, then the stories that they tell surely make up part of their brand DNA and act as learning points for its future.

Donning a detective cap on banks and brand promise

Posted on 16th July 201525th January 2018 by Dale Smith

I have always been fascinated by the intrinsic link between brand promise, employee engagement and how employees’ belief in and connection to their organisation’s vision comes to life. Years ago, in the height of the banking sector’s heyday, I ran a series of sales courses designed for relationship managers from one of the UK’s leading high street banks. The series was a huge success, with attendees charged and hungry to win new business. Their belief in the organisation’s growth and the vision of its future prospects was unequivocal and left a lasting impression. In fact, I was so taken by this enthusiasm that when setting up my own company, I decided that this was the bank for my business. I wholeheartedly bought into their brand promise and felt that if my business could be supported by employees with that much belief in their organisation’s offering, I could not lose.

Then, years later, the banking crisis hit and the promises once valued seemed a distant memory. What happened to the engaged employees hungry to sell the virtues of their bank to new customers? Suddenly it felt, even as a customer, that the message ‘You are lucky to have a job in such uncertain times…’ had stripped the banking employees’ drive and commitment. Perhaps it felt safer to do exactly what was expected rather than try to stand out from the competition?

Donning my undercover detective hat, I hit the high street looking for a new business bank that would once again share my values and commitment to employee engagement and meeting the brand promise. The first point I noted was that of the four branches that I walked into, not one had a dedicated business representative. After waiting in line at the first bank for over 15 minutes, I was given a brochure on business banking but told that the phone number listed was incorrect – yet the representative could not provide the correct one. A representative at the second bank wrote the business banking phone number on a scrap of paper. At the remaining branches, I was directed to take a brochure from the display. No one offered to take my details and pass them on to a relevant person.

‘We care about you and your business’; ‘we grow with you’. Brand promise matters to customers, and words seemed to restore my faith in finding a bank that could deliver. This was further supported by analysis from the Institute of Customer Service’s UKCSI (UK Customer Satisfaction Index) research that the banking sector scores relatively well on people-related measures and received above-average scores in areas such as friendliness of staff, attitude of staff and staff doing what they say they will do. I figured, perhaps over time, some branches had just become transactional shop fronts, unequipped to deal with walk-in business. I took this on the chin and entered into round two: a phone-a-thon, attempting to access the service I had been promised by the fresh and polished websites I saw online.

On the phone, I was met by indifference. At bank one, the phone rang out twice without an answer. I went onto their outsource call centre, who instructed me to call back in an attempt to get the department that I needed. I tried four more times over two days and finally requested for my call to be returned. No call ever came. At another bank, the representative told me that they were still being sold and rebranded; I should wait until the process was completed to become a customer. The third bank simply directed me back to their website. I never spoke to the fourth after three calls spent on hold for upwards of 10 minutes each.

Barriers and broken processes prevented me from reaching anyone remotely akin to the engaged employees that I met on the sales course all those years ago. Though their marketing teams made strong and enticing propositions, their frontline teams failed to deliver their brands’ promises. With employee satisfaction falling in the UKCSI from 77.9% in July 2013 to 76.3% in July 2014, I firmly believe that businesses must better focus their employees on the future prospects of their businesses, allow them to be participants in its future growth and ensure that internal communication reflects the external brand promise. It is time to put the drive back in the service industry.

What can contact centres learn from boutique hotels?

Posted on 16th July 201525th January 2018 by Dale Smith

As an advocate for great service, I often find myself being challenged by the mere thought of having to contact a few of my service suppliers – as I just know that I will be met with indifference or confusion. On the other hand, I have others that are such a complete delight to deal with that I am left feeling confident that I actually matter. Over the last few months I have been making a conscious effort to truly understand what is driving the different levels of service that I receive when I engage with a contact centre, and why.

Last year, Bridge was part of the transformation team that rebranded a 5-star hotel in Palm Beach, Florida from a well-known, high-end brand to an independent, new-fashioned luxury property. We worked exclusively on the internal messaging, employee engagement and building a new culture that would support both the vision of brand and better meet the needs of this new type of guest. It was not until working on this project that I began to realise just how the changing hospitality industry was a core reflection of new emerging customer trends and expectations across the board.

For those of us who have stayed in a branded hotel chain, we enter this relationship with a clear expectation of service. In the more high-end franchises, we expect consistency – no matter where we are in the world. I was surprised to discover the number of new, boutique, high-end hotels that seem to be opening up globally; these can range from sole independents or new, exclusive brands such as Marriott’s Edition hotels. So, what can contact centres learn from this evolution in customer needs and wants in a hotel experience?

This brought me back full circle to a recent call that I had with my AMEX Platinum contact centre and the delightful service that I consistently receive with them. It was made clear in one interaction that I was unique in my contact with them. They offered me a boutique-style service, one that was exclusive to me. They took the time to build a relationship with me on my terms, and took the time upfront to better understand my needs and the style of my personality. They clearly have the elasticity to deal with and respond to many different types of customers, and quickly fell into the personality type that best complemented mine.

At the hotel in Palm Beach, we ran several workshops on living the values. As true hoteliers, all members of the team play an equal part in the success of the business. We also underscored this with how the service offered in a boutique environment needs to be more flexible, and how to build moments that leave guests with goosebumps. One might argue that it is much easier to do this in the face-to-face, tangible environment of a hotel, and I would agree with this; however that is the challenge that the contact centre world needs to address and find more creative solutions to overcome as it seeks to eliminate barriers to success.

Customers are changing – as they have been since I began my career 20 years ago, and customers will never stop evolving. We have had the introduction of so many new communication channels over the last few years and people seemingly want things to happen faster in a world of immediacy. I have several devices at my fingertips, which means I can complete complex transactions without ever speaking to a person. Many organisations are building such a fortress around their contact centres that it has almost become impossible to find a telephone number to call. All this change has altered the face of both the contact centre and the relationship that we have with them as consumers.

For the foreseeable future, contact centres are not going anywhere, but I think that we need to give them the boutique status that they deserve. They have the ability to make true and lasting connections with the real face of customers. This now extends to all customers that take the time to contact them by phone, as it is a medium that they still prefer. This personality type is one that values being heard and one that builds loyalty in the live environment. For those that work in and support the contact centre, they too need to better connect to the purpose model of their organisations and better understand how they can offer five-star service to boutique-style customers.

Recruit for the right attitude, rather than skills

Posted on 16th July 201525th January 2018 by Dale Smith

Lately I have been noticing a trend where L&D directors from large international corporations have spoken publicly about how they have started recruiting people who have the right attitude, rather than a long list of relevant skills.

Why would they do this?

Years of Learning & Development experience have proven that employees can easily learn or pick up specific skills and information relevant to business. What has proven not-so-easy, is training employees to have the right attitude or behaviour for reflecting brand values and providing the desired brand experience for their customers.

Is this only important for customer-facing roles?

Absolutely not. Brand values are important not only in that they create customer expectations and an understanding of company offerings, but because they do this for employees as well. Employees should experience their company in exactly the same way that their customers do. If, for example, a company prides itself for its integrity, respect and accountability, it should be all of those things to both its employees as well as its customers. In doing so, that company will be helping to establish a strong company culture that is in-line with brand values.

It is imperative, however, in maintaining that strong company culture that a company ensures that its employees have the right attitude for that company. Should one or two negative or dis-engaged workers start bringing down the employee experience for everyone else, this could result in bringing down the customer experience as well.

What is “the right attitude” and how can HR teams recruit for it?

The right attitude is different for every company. It is key that the management team js clear on the attitude and behaviours that define their company’s culture, projecting the employee and customer experience by which they would like to be characterised. An employee’s attitude can often be determined by what an applicant lists on the profile of their CV, and certainly it can also be recognised during an interview. Sometimes though, showing an employee has the “right attitude” requires something a bit more overt.

Metro Bank, for example, has a very interesting induction and training programme for new employees which involves their participation in regular, company-wide activities that are deemed fun and genuine – like the conga line – which reflects the kind of up-beat, non-stuffy, personal banking experience for which Metro wants to be known. If a new employee disengages with the activity, showing that joining in the company conga line is not for them, this indicates that, perhaps, that employee is not for Metro Bank.

Old Mutual is another company whose induction/L&D programme is based more on technical skill/knowledge-based training, while their recruitment process is based more on finding candidates with the right attitude and behaviours.

“You can teach a call centre advisor about emerging markets and fund management and how to use our software to find information… but you cannot teach them to care or to have patience or to be genuinely kind and helpful. That has to come from the employee…” said Jennifer Graham, Technical Coach with Old Mutual Wealth.

When a person is not right for the company, they are not going to be right for the job.

HR teams must consider not only if a perspective employee is the best person for the job, but also if that individual is right for the company. Does this individual suit the company culture? Will she/he add to it or detract from it? Will this individual be a good and consistent reflection of your brand values whether working directly with a customer or sharing who they work for at a social function outside of work? Would you put this employee on a poster as an example of what your company stands for? All of these questions help to keep the primary question in mind – Does this person reflect your company values and will she/he continue to do so and be an engaged member of your team if hired?

Happy head-hunting!