Brandcology

There are five things you can do TODAY to ease the stressful culture in your organization…

1. First, communicate with your people every day, even if there is nothing significant to report. Whether it’s through a GoToMeeting video or simple email, let everyone know how things are going at your company. Tell them how sales are going, your projections, good things that are happening and how important it will be for an all-hands-on-deck approach to muscle through this pandemic. Make sure to close your daily messages on an optimistic note. Remember – one of the primary reasons you are a business owner is because you have an optimistic disposition. If you didn’t, you would never have rolled the dice to start your own business. Share that optimism with your team.
2. Don’t dwell on this crisis, or any crisis for that matter. State the facts and move on. The more it is talked about, the more it preys on everyone’s mind. Busyness is a welcome distraction and will serve to optimize everyone’s focus. Also, and this is huge, maintain a sense of humor.
3. This is the time to become as flexible as possible. With so many schools shut down, parents need to juggle their work responsibilities with making sure their kids are successfully and effectively adapting to online learning ─ something that is new to nearly everyone. Major disruptions like these will impact engagement and performance. Also understand that something needs to give ─ meaning your employees also need time to breathe, sleep and reboot before the next day. Don’t go into orbit if you don’t get immediate replies to your emails.
4. Try your best to maintain a business as usual culture even though your people may be working from home. Communicate expectations, hold people accountable, don’t cancel meetings and do the same things you’ve always done. In times of stress, people need to be able to grab onto things that are normal, comfortable and familiar.
5. Lastly, check in with your people every few days to gauge their stress levels, hear their worries and empathize with their concerns by being the best possible listener you can be. Your people are smart enough to know that you cannot fix this uncertainty and chaos. But if you serve as a good sounding board, they will feel better and your time will be most appreciated.

Many CEOs believe the most effective thing they can do as a leader is to regularly meet with their employees. Some spend upwards of 70 percent of their time doing this to build relationships and maintain a healthy culture. If you typically hang out in your office, now is the time to get out of your chair to walk your floor and chat with anyone still coming in each day. Also, start to schedule phone calls and video chats with those quarantining at home. Ask people if there is anything you can do for them. They will appreciate these gestures more than you can imagine.

A good friend of mine said he got a call from the owner of the company he works for and said he made it clear he’s not calling about business. He was simply calling to ask how he was doing. He said it was the nicest thing he’s ever seen the owner do.

If you would like to discuss culture strategies for your particular business and your particular situation, simply email me at [email protected]

You got this.

Quick – no hesitation, what is the name of your favorite hotel. 

Okay, now let’s assume you’re booking a trip and that particular hotel is sold out. What are two other hotel brands you would you consider? 

Next, suppose you need to rent a car. What is your preferred rental car agency? Now assume they don’t have any cars available. What is the name of the next car rental agency you would call? 

You can play out these scenarios with virtually every product and service – whether it’s a hotel, toothpaste, a hardware store or where you do your business banking.

In nearly every case, a short list of brands will likely come to mind that you prefer over others. Conversely, with a little thought, you could probably think of a fair amount of brands you would never buy from, or do business with.

My point is, the very people you want as customers are doing the same thing when they have a need for the products and services you offer. 

It doesn’t matter if you’re a financial institution, manufacturer, a law firm, or any other business for that matter. Either your brand is on a short list, a “no way in hell” list, or no list at all. Good brands don’t make the short list – Great brands do.

 In this podcast, I’m going to share with you seven steps you can take to elevate your brand into a higher category so that when people do have a need for what you sell, your brand has a greater chance of being one of the first to come to mind.

First, look into the soul of your company, and what I mean by that is your culture. Could it be better? Is it running at peak performance? Is poor communication, internal politics, lack of brand clarity or pride preventing you from being everything you can be?

Second, become very aware of your competition. If you are intimidated by them, this is something you need to overcome and face head-on. 

 Think of it this way - if you were on the other side of your desk, ask yourself if you would do business with your company. 

Third, if you were going to build a company that competes against you, how would you do it? What would it look like?

Take those top three to five thoughts of what you would do better, or different and put some energy behind them.

Fourth, understand and appreciate why brand development and strategy is so important. People’s decisions are based on brand experiences and perceptions. 

Fifth, Invest heavily into your people through training. Not just technical, but training on leadership, communication, problem-solving, conflict-resolution, sales, marketing, branding, crisis communication, and any other training that prepares them, and your company to be a force to reckon with and to be unstoppable. 

Some people say, “Well, what if I train them and they leave?” I say, “What if you don’t train then and they stay?” 

Sixth, adopt a visionary mindset. Keep a pulse on the trends of your business and industry and think in terms of your next two big ideas.

And seventh, start courting top-tier people to be a part of your team and vision. It’s tough finding great people who will share your passion and determination to succeed. Network, have your people network and be visible at trades shows and industry events. Focus on building awareness and build your company to be a natural habitat for top-performers. 

There are quite a few companies out there that just seem to have everything figured out. Just look to Quicken, Amazon, Coca-Cola and Toyota, or even some smaller companies you’re personally aware of that are so successful that they can’t keep up with customer orders or are maybe even forced to turn business away.

When companies achieve such high levels of success, some are able to maintain it by constantly reinventing themselves by always staying relevant and providing ongoing value to customers. 

But then there are others that are either afraid to change and adapt to maintain their success, or even worse, become either complacent or arrogant while riding the wake of their success. These are the companies that get repositioned into second place by a formidable competitor, and then third place by another, and so on and so on... 

I’ll give you some examples of some high-profile brands that were once leaders in their categories have either lost their lead or have perished. 

Countrywide 

At one time, Countrywide was the US's largest subprime mortgage company. And although many believe it was the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008 that led to its demise, the fact that it was found guilty of defrauding federal mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at the height of the housing crisis cannot be ignored and hence, sealed its fate. 

Unfortunately, other financial companies also failed due to deception and unethical business practices. But in the end, everyone remembers Countrywide.

Next up: Harley Davidson.

It was about eighteen years ago when I was at an after-hour business event where Harley Davidson’s CMO shared the company’s strategy for making the Harley brand more appealing to younger riders.

The company had legitimate reasons to be concerned. At the time, the average age of a Harley rider was approximately 43, and many other motorcycle manufacturers entering the market were taking giant bites into Harley’s younger-demographic market share by offering higher-performing, better-built, higher-tech, and more reliable motorcycles at much lower price points. 

And to attract those who liked the looks and lines of a Harley Davidson, some manufacturers built bikes strikingly similar in looks and design, competing on price, technology, build quality, service and warranty. It was no secret these were direct and unapologizing hits to the Harley brand.

And despite numerous, aggressive branding and marketing strategies to counter these competitive attacks over the years, the average age of a Harley rider continues to rise. And although Harley is making electric bikes to try to appeal to the younger generations, The Harley Davidson brand may need to do more to retool its brand.

What about Sears?

There are many theories about why Sears went from one of the top, most beloved retailers of all time to a company that is dying a slow death. From a brand perspective, while it tried to be all things to all people by offering tools, lingerie, a driving school, a photo studio, an optical department and many other things, it simply couldn’t compete against more specialty retailers and of course, amazon.com.

And remember Blackberry? I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen one other than in a print advertisement more than a couple years ago. The final straw occurred when customers painfully suffered through a three-day interruption in service. Competitors gladly came to the rescue by offering disgruntled Blackberry owners deep discounts on trade-in programs.

What about Garmin? Do you have one mounted on your windshield? Why would you when newer cars come with built-in GPS units and smartphones that have as-good-as, or even better navigation technology that is free? 

These failing brands have taught us what I refer to as the ways five ways leading brands lose their lead. Aside from poor financial management which o

I’ve known someone for quite some time now who runs a very successful company, and she attributes her success to the culture she has deliberately created. I would define her as an emotionally intelligent servant leader who treats everyone in her company as good as, if not better than her company’s customers. When business owners complain that they can’t find good people, she enjoys a bit of a laugh because she’s figured out how to build a company where people love to come to work every day and her company has consequently earned a reputation for being a great place to work. 

I’m also acquainted with business owner who has created a completely different culture. On day one of a new hire, he makes it abundantly clear that the sole purpose of his company is to crush his competitors. Although he comes across as a friendly guy, he tells new hires that he is not there to be anyone’s friend, he doesn’t think of everyone at his company as a family and people don’t get together to party – not even for the holidays. 

However, he does tell everyone that he is the greatest advocate of any employee who does his or her job well. He also tells people they will financially do well if they work hard and that if anyone is looking for a work/life balance job, they are encouraged to leave because, as he states, “work/life balance doesn’t grow a company.”

His company also did very well for quite some time because he hired people who shared a similar mindset. The reason I share these stories with you is because if you mention the word “culture” to most people, it may spark a conversation around employer branding, hiring emotionally intelligent managers, teamwork, and strategies behind building a place where people love to come to work every day. You know – all that “touchy-feely” stuff.

However, when you think of the world’s most valuable brands, they all share one thing in common – each one builds and maintains cultures of high-expectations, continuous improvement, operational excellence and of course, service/product leadership. 

For these ultra-successful, elite brands, culture is very much a strategy – one that is tactical, and as deliberate as it is calculating. 

Now let’s talk about what culture is not

Culture is NOT the nap room, the ping-pong table in the lobby, or the half-day Fridays offered during the summer so employees can live their work/life balance. 

Culture is not the paid time off employers give to employees so they may contribute to a cause they believe in,

Culture is the combination of beliefs, behaviors and attitudes that make up the social construct of an organization. 

For the poorly managed company, culture is something that just happens all on its own as positions are filled with skilled employees, and in the process, little, if any consideration is given to how they should be managed.

Under these conditions, employees are expected to “figure things out,” do what they were hired to do, and behave like a team. I say, good luck with that. 

Companies that make their competitors sweat have cultures that are well-defined and designed for aggressive growth and market leadership. Much like the components that make up a well-running machine, these employers hire to exacting specifications for every single role within their companies. 

Technical aptitude aside, these employers screen for traits such as: attitude, leadership traits, life experiences, personal beliefs and philosophies, emotional intelligence, self-awareness, enthusiasm, empathy and critical thinking. 

They know and understand that the right mixture of high-quality people is exactly what’s needed to achieve lofty, corporate objectives and win. And for one company to win, another must lose. And there’s nothing soft or touchy-feely about that!

There is, indeed, a proven and direct correlation between the health of a company’s culture and its overall success.
I’ve been on my rant for quite a long time that if employees don’t love to come to work every day, the company they work for will never be able to reach its full potential. 
So, in that vein, I’ll share an experience I had not too long ago with one of our clients to help communicate my point.
It was about a business owner I met in one of my roundtable groups, and she often talked about the struggles she had with her business partner. They had diametrically opposed personalities which actually served as a benefit in the growth of the business, but in the way she was describing what was happening, it was a detriment. 
Her partner was brilliant in terms of industry knowledge and the ability to bring aboard new business, but his alter ego was that of a bully with respect to his style of management and leadership. And as you would expect, morale at her company was low, and the turnover was high. 
To many of the employees, he was a micro-manager with a near zero-tolerance policy for mistakes, and he truly believed that the occasional dose of intimidation coupled with fear was the best way to keep everyone on their toes.
Because of this, she had reasons to believe that some of the company’s key players and top producers would jump ship if things didn’t change.
After a few conversations, I was hired to do an employee insight assessment, and after conducting numerous interviews with her employees, her fears were confirmed, and the environment was really unstable. 
When she and her partner were presented with the employee feedback, or evidence, in this case, they agreed to restructure their relationship so that she would be the partner in charge of managing, leading and nurturing all employees, and he was going to play to his strengths in growing the business through focusing more on sales, managing vendor partners, corporate strategy and being the visionary for the company.
It was an easy solution.
Now that the employees were aware of the change, I provided a strategy and framework for building what I defined as a fanatical culture of high-performance, accountability and continuous improvement. 
Here are the components:
Number one. Replacing the dreaded annual review with ongoing face-to-face, in-person, authentic real-time feedback. 
Two. Keeping employees in the know about what is going on at the company through newsletters, summits, an intranet and town hall meetings. 
Three. Investments in training. A few thousand dollars and a couple days out of the office for sales, service, leadership, technical, industry or human resources training will generate a very nice ROI. Employees warm up more to employers who care enough to invest in them.
Number four. Investments into better tools to improve efficiency. 
Number five. Celebrating failure. And I’m not talking about willy nilly failure from negligence and sloppiness. I’m talking about intelligent failure where new hypothesis are tested based on a culmination of knowledge and research, and emerging with new knowledge based on trial and error experimentation. 
Okay, number six. Organizing a day of respect. This is day when, for example, salespeople spend a full day in the life of production, and production spends a day and the life of sales. Doing this is the only way each group will understand and have an appreciation for each other’s challenges, struggles. 
Seven. Cleaning house. Going through the office to declutter is both healthy and invigorating.  
Eight. Subscribing to a process for solving problems efficiently and effectively. 
Nine. Face defeats head on. When a company suffers a major setback or loss, its leader should bring immediately everyone together to perform an autopsy of the situation, define what went wrong, make the loss a learning

About a year ago I was invited to speak at an annual ActionCoach event. The topic of my speech focused on the importance of maintaining brand value and integrity as a company scales.  At the end of my presentation, I was approached by the VP of marketing of a well-known and established accounting and business advisory firm.

It turned out that he was very intrigued by some of the things I was talking about and wanted to know if I could meet with him and a couple of the firm’s executives to discuss some concerns they had. So here the story goes. 

The original owner of the business retired and sold the business to two new owners a little more than a year ago. The new owners seemed friendly and competent, but no one knew too much about them other than that they both had an impressive track record of running strong and profitable companies. Over the course of the first several months of ownership, they become more and more polarized in terms of their ideas and thoughts on how to grow the business. 

Unfortunately, they didn’t think to turn their attention to the brand, what it stood for, and how its attributes contributed to the success of the company. The company was successful because of the brand! Had they considered the brand by spending time with employees and clients to understand it, decisions on how to grow the business would have been abundantly clear.

As the conflict was taking place and different people were getting different messages from the two owners, the entire culture changed for the worse, out of fear, because many of the employees began to question the sustainability of the company. 

Because of the conflict and indecision among the two owners, operationally everything stalled, and after a couple of months, employees, out of pure frustration, started doing their own “stuff,” like their own marketing (which wasn’t very good, and it was inconsistent) and hodgepodging their own systems as they saw fit. 

Even worse, a handful of people who had access to the back door of the company’s website started making unauthorized updates which created even more tension and conflict. And the owners weren’t paying attention.

As you would expect, respect for the new owners disappeared pretty quickly, and the situation continued to deteriorate to the point where some of the firm’s top producers were starting to resign, and they were even recruiting others to join them. 

And, of course, as you would expect, some of the firm’s clients followed the relationships they had with the CPAs and consultants which was really a punch in the gut to the firm. 

Over the course of the following twelve months, more people resigned despite the owner’s best efforts to retain them. There was a lot of “all talk, no action” which further eroded trust in the ownership team. 

The firm’s brand quickly became devalued in the eyes of candidates based on a growing reputation of being a place to avoid, thanks to glassdoor.com.

The firm was forced to downsize as they were unable to fill some of the vacant positions. Consequently, a culture of mediocrity took over and, as the saying goes, the inmates took control of the asylum. 

In the background, some of the firm’s competitors picked up on the scent of the wounded brand and went full throttle on a few offensive marketing tactics to inflict even more pain and run campaigns to convert their clients.

At the time I was meeting with these execs, the firm lost more than half its business and the owners have been silent.

It’s no surprise that I was unable to secure a meeting with the owners.

So, why did I feel the need to share this story? The reason is because I don’t believe enough thought and consideration is given to the brand and the culture of an organization during the merger and acquisition process. 

As many high-profile CEOs have said, culture trumps strategy.

Unique value propositions. Do you need one? How important are they in the overall success of building and owning a strong brand?

Well, let’s start by defining the word unique. According to dictionary.com, unique means “having no like or equal; unparalleled; incomparable. Also, existing as the only one or as the sole example; single; solitary in type or characteristics.

So, is it always possible to truly own a unique value proposition? Well, the short answer is no. And, the good news is that it’s not as important to own one as we once thought!

The fact is, there are many successful, thriving companies and organizations that do not own, or even claim to own a unique value proposition.

For far too long, marketers have been hung up on identifying or creating their “unique” value propositions, believing that if they don’t own one, they wouldn’t be able to adequately confront the competition head-on.

The anxiety over defining one’s Unique Value Proposition has been on the decline for quite a few years as many CEOs are discovering that the process of unearthing a value proposition that is truly unique is not always achievable. 

And even when it is, nearly all Unique Value Propositions are susceptible to one or more of the following issues or risks:

One. If the unique value proposition fails to align with what customers value the most, it won’t be relevant. 

Two. Some unique value propositions, no matter how strong or compelling are at risk of losing their appeal as soon as a competitor launches a superior product or service. 

Three. The pressure to own a unique value proposition forces some brands to create or define one that orbits around customer service or superior product quality; neither of which is unique due to its vagueness and nearly identical claims made by competitors. 

Take the case of a company boasting the unique value proposition that its new CRM system is the most user-friendly on the market. 

Although a seemingly strong unique value proposition, its relevance and significance in the eyes of customers are based on three variables:

One. The company must provide proof of its claim by citing its source. It’s the most user-friendly based on whose input and what legitimate source? If it’s self-proclaimed, the value proposition is meaningless. 

Two. Assuming the claim is legitimately endorsed by a respected third-party, the value of the company’s proposition will be directly proportionate to how much money the company will supposedly make over time in terms of increased productivity and efficiency. 

Three. If the CRM system does in fact lead to increased productivity and efficiency, it must also closely match the performance and capabilities of competitive systems, such as offering an easy-to-use mobile app and top features users want and value the most.

And four. Most importantly, the unique value proposition will only be relevant if the company has a strong reputation, offers fanatical customer support, plenty of online training and is highly reliable in terms of uptime. 

So, are unique value propositions overrated? Absolutely not. Owning one or more plays an integral role in attracting new customers and retaining existing ones.

Hello everyone, my name is Scott Seroka, Chief Brand Strategist and Principal of Seroka, a brand development and strategic communications agency specializing in the mortgage and fintech industries. I want to welcome you to my very first, of what will be a robust series of podcasts, and I also want to thank you for your interest in listening, as I know you have many options available to you. 

I’ll call this episode number one, and today’s topic will be focused on the five steps to creating a winning tagline. 

This topic is actually quite controversial, namely because there are quite a few different definitions of what a tagline is, authored by many great brand leaders from very well-known brands. In fact, if you were to google the phrase, “definition of tagline,” you would have quite a few different results, and quite a few different versions. What I’ve found in my research is that, for the most part, many of those definitions share common denominators that most people would agree with.

So, let’s start here. Have you ever seen a tagline and wondered what in the heck it meant? Let me give you a few examples: 

·      Adidas adopted the tagline, Impossible is nothing, which no one really understood. 

·      FedEx actually had a tagline that read, Why fool around with anyone else?

·      FileMaker Pro, promoted the tagline, What’s your problem?

·      And, Blockbuster video had the tagline, No more late fees. The start of more. 

Now, each one of these taglines lived a very short life, anywhere from just a few days to a week because as soon as they were released into the wild, they were quickly met with ridicule and criticism.

In my estimation, this is typically what happens when the desire to be cute and clever gets in the way of what a tagline is really meant to do: provide a memorable and succinct statement that sums up the essence of a brand. 

My point in sharing these examples with is this: If consumers need to stop and think about what your tagline means, it failed to do its job. Game over. 

Going to market with such profound or philosophical taglines simply creates brand confusion and hence, alienates the very people the brand wishes to attract.  

So, let’s talk about you and your company. I’m assuming you’re not a CEO who needs, or would benefit from having a compelling tagline that tells people exactly why they should be doing business with you, versus with your competition. 

I’m going to set the stage by breaking this down into two unique parts. The first part is defining what you do, and what I mean by that is defining your business model as well as your product and service offerings. The second part is focused on defining the essence of your brand.  

I want to cite two of my favorite tagline examples to support my points. The first one is Avis. Avis is a very well-known rental car company. What Avis does is rent vehicles. However, the essence of the Avis brand is going above and beyond, which was intelligently communicated through their tagline, We try harder. 

This happens to be one of my favorite examples because it is a very compelling tagline, and it tells customers that Avis will try harder than other rental car companies to make its customers happy. It is a brilliant example of how they separate themselves from other rental car companies. 

Another example is Apple. What Apple does is design and manufacture cool computers and electric devices. However, the essence Apple’s brand is challenging the status quo. They communicated this in their early tagline Think different. The bonus to this tagline was that it was also a call to action for consumers. Apple has stayed true to this brand since the beginning, and they have successfully&

In this podcast I really want to drive home how much your brand must endure to earn, or win new business – everything from the beginning of the customer journey, also referred to as the pre-purchase phase of the sales cycle, on through to the goal of not only winning new business, but also earning the privilege of getting referrals. 

The fact is that every time a potential buyer, borrower, customer or client touches, or gets touched by your brand, also known as brand touchpoints, they form an impression of your brand. 

So, what are brand touchpoints? Brand touchpoints are interactions people have with your brand, such as your website, your salespeople, or originators, the person who answers your phone, customer service, emails, marketing, and many other areas where your brand and customers connect. 

But it’s also worth mentioning that people’s impressions of brands are also based on a brand’s reputation and what others say about the brand either in conversations or on social media.  

So, whether you choose to think about it or not, people already have an impression of your brand, even if they have never done business with you. 

Okay, enough about that. Let me take your through of everything your brand must endure to make a sale. 

It all begins when a someone has a need, or a desire for what you sell. So, let’s pause here for a moment. My first question for you is this: How confident are you that your brand will come to his or her mind? If you’re not sure, you’ll need to work on building brand awareness..

Let’s assume that your brand does indeed come to mind. Hopefully, it comes to mind in a positive light, and let’s assume and hope that it does. If it doesn’t, either your toast, or you’ll have a steep hill to climb. 

At this point, research begins, typically through an online search of your company name. 

Next question: What appears in the search results? A BBB rating? If so, what is it? Does a Glassdoor.com review appear at the top? If so, what’s your score? Or, is there an article about your company? 

You get where I’m going here. You may have noticed that glassdoor reviews are elbowing their way to the top of search results, and your rating most certainly influences people’s impression of your brand. 

Here’s what I mean: If you have at least a three and-a-half out of a five-star average review, you’re fine. However, if it’s lower than 3 stars, it’s a sign of an unhealthy culture and possible high employee turnover, and that could spook a potential client. 

You can also count on the fact that your prospective customer will also search the names of company’s you compete with to make some baseline comparisons. They may also search for keywords and phrases that align with the products and services you sell. 

If you haven’t done so in the past year, I encourage you to do a search for the products and services you offer to see what appears in a Google search. These are called keywords and key phrases, and make sure you try multiple variables. 

For example, if you’re a mortgage lender based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, search for: Milwaukee, Wisconsin mortgage lenders, Milwaukee, Wisconsin mortgage companies, Milwaukee mortgage companies, Wisconsin mortgage companies, Top rated Milwaukee mortgage lenders, etc. You get the idea.

As you are searching, put yourself in the shoes of a potential customer, or in this case a potential borrower, by acting as if you were shopping around, just doing some tire-kicking...

In this podcast I am going to talk about how to avoid a common mistake some companies make when going through the process of defining their corporate values.

Prior to 2010, the topic of defining corporate values wasn’t nearly as prevalent as it is today. Of course, this is a trend in a very positive direction as strong brands need to not only stand for something valuable, meaningful and relevant, they must also adopt almost human-like qualities. 

And if you think about it, it makes sense. Brands are made up of people, and people relate to people – not to machines or technology, no matter how charismatic and artificially intelligent Siri or Alexa becomes. 

As you’ve likely heard so many times, people’s decisions to buy are driven mostly by emotion. We do business with people and brands that feel right, and we tend to follow our guts and our instincts more than we may consciously think about. 

Therefore, we can reasonably and confidently conclude that brands are almost synonymous with emotion. After all, when you see a logo or hear a brand name that you’re familiar with, or at least heard of, you experience some sort of emotion, even if it’s one that barely registers. 

So, the question is, how can you infuse emotional elements into your brand, so that it becomes more emotionally appealing to prospective customers?

The answer lies in the process of defining values.  

In fact, the process of defining one’s values has undoubtedly become one of the hottest trends in both corporate and employer branding. 

And, when integrated into a well-functioning, healthy culture, the results can be extraordinary in five unique ways:

1. Values guide employees toward the desired behaviors, beliefs and attitudes required to deliver on the brand promise.
2. Values establish guardrails and provide guidance for making company-wide decisions throughout all levels, no matter how large, or small.
3. Greater onboarding success can be achieved as hiring managers will know what traits and qualities to look for in potential hires.
4. When work teams share a common set of values, not only does productivity increase, conflict diminishes as harmony becomes more mainstream in the workplace.
5. When competitive products and services appear equal, people will typically support brands with values they believe in.

So, let’s talk about that common mistake some companies make when going through the process of defining their corporate values.

Let’s assume, for the sake of example, that you’ve already defined your values. My question for you is this: Is it at all possible that any of one your values would be better defined, or classified as a basic, or minimum customer expectation? 

Let me give you some examples.

Let’s start with honesty. Unless your company is in an industry plagued with deception and manipulation, I would avoid characterizing honesty as a value. 

Think of it this way: Your mother may have told you not to trust anyone who says, “Trust me.” The same applies in business. However, if you feel strongly that honesty needs to be one of your values, a better option for you may be transparency.

In certain contexts, it has a similar meaning, and customers prefer doing business with companies that don’t hide anything.

The second example is respect. Not to diminish its meaning, but this isn’t anything special in the context of how a company conducts business. 

If respect for the customer and respect for each other internally isn’t a part of your company’s culture, you have much larger problems to contend with.

My third example is integrity. Because of such widespread and excessive use (like the term innovation), its meaning and relevance has been diluted. Every customer has the right to expect that you at least operate with integrity.