Let’s start with the simple principle – better relationships mean better business. Your business, just like your personal lives, are built around great enduring relationships. In business, great relationships are built around a client experience where people feel looked after and believe they receive more value than what they are paying for.
As simple as it sounds, a better client experience isn’t delivered by a few well-chosen words and promises on a website or in your glossy capability brochure. It has to be ingrained into the culture of the organisation. Your employees have to be aligned and draw from your brand culture for the inspiration, clarity and motivation to deliver a better client experience.
The spine of your business
Unlike a consumer or retail brand, the spine of effective B2B businesses is your brand culture and people. Combined, they are the foundation of long-term relationships. Investing in your brand culture will have a strong impact on your team unity, loyalty and employee retention. It will also potentially give you that extra 1, 2 or 3 percent of unused residual effort that can take you from where you are today, to where you want to be.
Even if you have a HR department, good luck if you think developing your brand culture is someone else’s responsibility. You’ll need even more luck on your side if your people don’t understand what you stand for as a brand, your values or even how to behave as the people building your business at the client interface.
Your people culture is central to business success
On the other hand, you are on your way to success if you have a brand strategy that is the heartbeat of your business. It should be crafted to connect with your people in meaningful ways and be understood and delivered through your brand’s culture to deliver a great client experience.
It all starts with your brand having a clear, concise and compelling ‘why us’ and distinctive positioning so you stand out from your competition. Combine this with marketing messages and promises that motivate response to your products and services. Add to the mix, people who live your brand values and are clear about how they should behave every time they interact and connect with customers, and you start seeing results that show up on the bottom line.
Power up your business
Your people are the real power in every B2B business. When your brand connects to your clients in meaningful ways through your people, they become aligned with your business, feel special, valued and looked after. These are the types of clients that keep coming back for more.
Maybe it’s time to make the picture clear to your people by developing a clearly defined brand strategy as the foundation to creating a people culture that really goes to work for you.
