http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/ Opinions. Commentary. News. Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:18:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-34637 Paul Williams Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:16:32 +0000 http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/#comment-34637 Mark - best of luck to you... let me know if there is anything I can help with! Robert - I find Zappos' strategy interesting. There's a lot of buzz about it. Robert... Regarding your company... If I were you, to enhance your company/brand I wouldn't consider yourself in the 'hosting' business... Rather, break down what you do into chunks... initial contact/first impression, service, product, employee training, experience, etc... Next, find those companies who are regarded as the best of the best for each of those chunks. It doesn't matter *what* industry they're in... See how you can adopt those methods at YOUR brand. (I know it's called benchmarking, but I'm not a fan of jargon). Mark – best of luck to you… let me know if there is anything I can help with!
Robert – I find Zappos’ strategy interesting. There’s a lot of buzz about it.
Robert… Regarding your company… If I were you, to enhance your company/brand I wouldn’t consider yourself in the ‘hosting’ business… Rather, break down what you do into chunks… initial contact/first impression, service, product, employee training, experience, etc… Next, find those companies who are regarded as the best of the best for each of those chunks. It doesn’t matter *what* industry they’re in… See how you can adopt those methods at YOUR brand. (I know it’s called benchmarking, but I’m not a fan of jargon).

]]> http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-34636 Robert Sauchyn Fri, 23 May 2008 23:26:11 +0000 http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/#comment-34636 Great post! Couldn't agree more. It's cliché but accurate to say that any good service-based company consists almost entirely of the people that make it up. But, to take that one step further, I would say that any service company's brand can't be much better than its worst customer-facing employee. One "bad seed" in a customer-facing position can result in a handful, or more over a long period of time, of bad customer experiences. As we all know, bad news travels 10 times faster, especially on the web; therefore, if you assume that "brand" = "reputation" today, a few bad customer experiences on an ongoing basis can largely negate all of the hard work put into organizing a company around providing good customer service and branding itself well. Zappos takes an interesting approach aimed at improving customer service by aggressively incenting new employees, after having gone through an extensive paid orientation, to quit. One of our staff members recently wrote about her buzzworthy first-hand experience with Zappos' service-focused strategies at an outlet store in Vegas: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=6151154587&topic=4546" rel="nofollow">http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=6151154587&topic=4546</a> I can see Zappos' strategy of paying new employees $1000 to quit following orientation being an effective and innovative way to weed out the "bad seeds" before they interact with customers or, worse yet, become engrained in the organization. While our company prides itself on being an extremely service-oriented hosting provider, there is always a lot to learn from other innovative companies, particularly those in other, non-competitive industries like Zappos. Great post! Couldn’t agree more.
It’s cliché but accurate to say that any good service-based company consists almost entirely of the people that make it up. But, to take that one step further, I would say that any service company’s brand can’t be much better than its worst customer-facing employee. One “bad seed” in a customer-facing position can result in a handful, or more over a long period of time, of bad customer experiences. As we all know, bad news travels 10 times faster, especially on the web; therefore, if you assume that “brand” = “reputation” today, a few bad customer experiences on an ongoing basis can largely negate all of the hard work put into organizing a company around providing good customer service and branding itself well.
Zappos takes an interesting approach aimed at improving customer service by aggressively incenting new employees, after having gone through an extensive paid orientation, to quit. One of our staff members recently wrote about her buzzworthy first-hand experience with Zappos’ service-focused strategies at an outlet store in Vegas:
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=6151154587&topic=4546
I can see Zappos’ strategy of paying new employees $1000 to quit following orientation being an effective and innovative way to weed out the “bad seeds” before they interact with customers or, worse yet, become engrained in the organization. While our company prides itself on being an extremely service-oriented hosting provider, there is always a lot to learn from other innovative companies, particularly those in other, non-competitive industries like Zappos.

]]> http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-34635 Marc Okicich Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:39:23 +0000 http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/#comment-34635 Paul, To second the other comments-great post. I've recently been put in charge of one of the great American brands that has, in my opinion, sullied it's reputation by trying to be everything to everybody. I hope to right the ship utilizing some of your guiding principles. Thanks. Paul,
To second the other comments-great post. I’ve recently been put in charge of one of the great American brands that has, in my opinion, sullied it’s reputation by trying to be everything to everybody. I hope to right the ship utilizing some of your guiding principles.
Thanks.

]]> http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-34634 Paul (from Idea Sandbox) Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:46:23 +0000 http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/#comment-34634 Thanks for the comments and discussion... I'm not a fan of jargon or buzz words... They get in the way of genuine communication... (I don't mind jargon here and there between two marketers, as shortcuts in language during a conversation)... But most jargon seems to be invented to make a professional sound highfalutin. Keep the comments coming! Thanks for the comments and discussion… I’m not a fan of jargon or buzz words…
They get in the way of genuine communication… (I don’t mind jargon here and there between two marketers, as shortcuts in language during a conversation)…
But most jargon seems to be invented to make a professional sound highfalutin.
Keep the comments coming!

]]> http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-34633 Michael Lombardi Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:54:51 +0000 http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/#comment-34633 Paul, thanks for the article. It inspired me to write my own post on reputation (a truncated version of yours at best): <a href="http://marketersynergy.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/forgotten-reputation/" rel="nofollow">http://marketersynergy.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/forgotten-reputation/</a> Paul, thanks for the article. It inspired me to write my own post on reputation (a truncated version of yours at best):
http://marketersynergy.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/forgotten-reputation/

]]> http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-34632 Chris Davis Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:14:19 +0000 http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/#comment-34632 My apologies for the multiple post...My internet froze mid-click. My apologies for the multiple post…My internet froze mid-click.

]]> http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-34631 Chris Davis Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:12:25 +0000 http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/#comment-34631 I couldn't agree more with your thoughts on a brand being more of a reputation than anything. A reputation is something that everyone can understand. I tend to put a lot of emphasis on having a vision and making it public. Not only to organizational staff, but to the consumers, letting them know that we have thought this through, we know where we are going and we want our consumers to come along for the ride. Great post. I couldn’t agree more with your thoughts on a brand being more of a reputation than anything. A reputation is something that everyone can understand.
I tend to put a lot of emphasis on having a vision and making it public. Not only to organizational staff, but to the consumers, letting them know that we have thought this through, we know where we are going and we want our consumers to come along for the ride.
Great post.

]]> http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-34630 Chris Davis Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:11:13 +0000 http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/#comment-34630 I couldn't agree more with your thoughts on a brand being more of a reputation than anything. A reputation is something that everyone can understand. I tend to put a lot of emphasis on having a vision and making it public. Not only to organizational staff, but to the consumers, letting them know that we have thought this through, we know where we are going and we want our consumers to come along for the ride. Great post. I couldn’t agree more with your thoughts on a brand being more of a reputation than anything. A reputation is something that everyone can understand.
I tend to put a lot of emphasis on having a vision and making it public. Not only to organizational staff, but to the consumers, letting them know that we have thought this through, we know where we are going and we want our consumers to come along for the ride.
Great post.

]]> http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-34629 Chris Davis Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:10:00 +0000 http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/#comment-34629 I couldn't agree more with your thoughts on a brand being more of a reputation than anything. A reputation is something that everyone can understand. I tend to put a lot of emphasis on having a vision and making it public. Not only to organizational staff, but to the consumers, letting them know that we have thought this through, we know where we are going and we want our consumers to come along for the ride. Great post. I couldn’t agree more with your thoughts on a brand being more of a reputation than anything. A reputation is something that everyone can understand.
I tend to put a lot of emphasis on having a vision and making it public. Not only to organizational staff, but to the consumers, letting them know that we have thought this through, we know where we are going and we want our consumers to come along for the ride.
Great post.

]]> http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-34628 Christelle Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:35:55 +0000 http://www.mpdailyfix.com/think-reputation-instead-of-brand/#comment-34628 I realy believe in 'affinity arketing' - The trust rank is going to be much more important than the google rank in the next years ... I realy believe in ‘affinity arketing’ – The trust rank is going to be much more important than the google rank in the next years …

]]>