Are your employees damaging your brand?

Paul Copcutt has been staking out some very distinctive space, primarily in the field of personal branding; he’s one of the leading Canadian speakers on the subject. He publishes a lovely blog called Just my Toonies Worth… a recent edition caught our eye because it has clear implications to how organizations attract people… and whether those people enhance or weaken the company’s brand:

My kids certainly scream for ice cream! In fact one of the things they love about Baskin Robbins is they can theoretically try all 31 flavours of ice cream before actually buying one! But when it comes to new ice cream experiences the cold marble slab market is opening up in a big way - both in terms of competition and PRICE!

If you have not had the opportunity to try one of these marvels in marketing you should, there are Marble Slab Creamery and Cold Stone Creamery franchises popping up everywhere and it is taking ice cream eating to a whole new level.

But this explosion of taste and experience comes with a warning - do not compromise the brand experience in favour of distribution. Tim Hortons, the #1 coffee store here in Canada is now putting Cold Stones in some of their stores, but the customer service levels are certainly lacking based on a recent store visit. We were kept waiting while staff continued to serve a stream of coffee and donut customers at another till, including arrivals after us.

When we were finally served it was evident the person serving had little or no experience of the Cold Stone approach, even down to the size and flavour options, or going by the poor product presentation, was not even that interested in serving - it seemed like more of an inconvenience than the fact our purchase was equivalent to 7 or more coffee customers. This was an insult to their brand as my going in to a Tim Hortons and ordering a Venti coffee or a Starbucks and ordering a double double – it’s damaging to the brand and makes for a poor experience not an ultimate one.

Your employees are a critical extension of your brand, regardless of whether it's ice cream, coffee or not retail or hospitality at all. If they are not trained or engaged then the brand that will suffer first and most is yours, not their personal brand.

What are you or your employees doing to ensure that your brand is being reflected correctly?

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Just My Toonies Worth blog......

Paul Copcutt - Square Peg Solution

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