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11.13.07
Building A Strong Brand For Career Success
 By
David McNally
For companies smart enough - and lucky enough - to sustain a strong brand, that brand is a gold mine.
For a great brand, customers will drive the extra mile, pay the extra dollar, and refuse to consider lower priced "me too" offers from competitors.
But what is it that commands this kind of loyalty? The answer is simple: customers are loyal to great brands because those brands deliver great experiences. As it gets harder and harder for companies to stand out through unique product features or technology, strong brands consistently provide distinctive, high quality customer interactions that low cost competitors cannot easily duplicate.
How do they do it? By engaging employees in a continuous strategy to maintain high standards across every area of the enterprise -- sales, customer service, marketing, and operations - right down to the fork lift drivers in the warehouse. Those employees are the ones who shape perceptions, by creating the experiences customers value enough to return to the brand time after time.
As a professional, you are also in a "competitive market," competing with others who may have qualifications similar to yours - all vying for the recognition and rewards that come with outstanding performance. If you interact with your company's customers, you are also part of the team that is competing to deliver customer experiences that can strengthen - or weaken your company's brand - and your own.
Though you may not have thought of yourself as having a "brand," the fact is that people have perceptions of you based on their experiences with you over time. As your customers, co-workers and manager interact with you, they form impressions that together make up your personal and professional brand: by our actions, we are "branded." We can't really avoid it. And opportunities for career growth and recognition come to those with strong brands - the ones who have credibility, who are trusted, and who are seen as the "go to" people.
So what's your brand today? A brand is formed on the basis of impressions over time - shaped by observations of what you do - your role, and even more importantly by how you do it - your standards. Because standards are so visible to others through actions and behaviors, they represent the best opportunity to consciously shape the perceptions and strengthen your professional brand.
Standards. . .The How of the What
To better understand standards, think about the people you know in your work environment, and even whole teams of people. What are they known for? Perhaps you can think of an individual who has a reputation for delivering work that is always accurate and on-time. Maybe you know someone who consistently offers unusually creative answers to problems, while someone else has a reputation for being exceptionally customer focused and persistent in meeting customer needs.
There might be a member of your work team who insists on getting to the root of a problem and is never satisfied with an easy fix or the "good enough" answer.
Terms such as "accurate," "responsive," "focused on the customer," "prompt," "reliable" - describe the standards that play a critical role in defining the quality of experiences people expect from their interactions others. Standards represent the means of making a unique impression that is exclusive to you. They are an important key to the "competitive advantage" of your brand.
Continue reading this article
About the Author:
David McNally, an internationally acclaimed speaker and recipient of the prestigious Speaker Hall of Fame Award of Excellence by the National Speakers Association, leverages his knowledge of what motivates and inspires people to provide them with the knowledge, skills and inspiration to perform at their best. David McNally is the author of two best selling books, EVEN EAGLES NEED A PUSH – Learning to Soar in a Changing World and THE EAGLE’S SECRET – Success Strategies for Thriving at Work and in Life. His latest co-authored book, BE YOUR OWN BRAND is bringing new meaning to the concept of the brand promise. Companies such as Abbott, Ameriprise Financial, Inc., Gartner, Merrill Lynch, Northwest Airlines, Inc., Pulte Homes, and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, are but a few of the many distinguished organizations that have embraced David’s work as a key component of preparing their employees for an ever increasing competitive and complex future.
For more information contact David McNally, www.davidmcnally.com, info@davidmcnally.com, 1.800.228.1218 or 952.835.0300, 9717 Colorado Road, Bloomington, MN 55438, USA.
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