People talk about customer loyalty in terms akin to the Holy Grail; something all businesses seek, but few genuinely manage to find. In general, I believe customers want to be loyal. Unless you have a strong masochistic streak, continually searching out new places and comparing value for things you want to...
How many times have you seen people make the promise “most trusted” or something similar? Trust assertions of one ilk or another litter organisational identities and positioning statements. Whether trust squats in the purpose statement, lurks in the list of values or makes an appearance on the website’s home page, I...
When you have a question, don’t settle for the first answer, even if it feels like it’s the right one. When you accept the first answer in a rush to move something forward or get to the next step, a whole world of detail that can launch understanding and clarity...
How often do you stop and say a simple “thanks for all your work” to the people around you? If you’re like most of us, the answer is not very often. Caught up in the daily grind, it can be hard enough to remember to go to the bathroom let...
Loyalty is coveted by organisations because loyal customers come back more often, spend more money and tell other people they like you. And loyal employees stick around longer, are more productive and care more about what they do. This all sounds hunky dory. And now the kicker, because there is always...
During a conversation with a new acquaintance, our talk turned to values, actively using them in the organisation and why it’s time to free them from the musty constraints of employee guides and company offsite days. I’m always looking at whether organisations have the will to incur the (sometimes real) cost...
Reading the May edition of Gourmet Traveller magazine provided an unexpected example of the discipline of putting your identity to work for a brand result people care about. It was an excerpt from the book Brae about the famed Victorian restaurant of chef Dan Hunter, who writes dos and don’ts for his kitchen. The list...
In general, I don’t participate in the good values, bad values judgment game. I’m not here to tell you what they should or shouldn’t be. But I do believe it is essential you know what they are. There’s a chapter in the book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F#@k in which the author...
Alignment is a central part of how you build a brand, and I always expound the value of making sure this and that work together to achieve the same end. But it only does so much and needs another element to push the kind of deep work that is present in great...
After a recent brand workshop for the Women in Digital Group, I received a lovely message from Jenny Lindsay: “I’d been overthinking how to ‘create’ my brand, when, by contemplating my values, I realised I knew it all along. Now I just have to live it. What a revelation.” At the event,...