It’s build on an Aesop fable that goes something like this.

A farmer’s son, is daydreaming as he walks to town with a pail of milk balanced on his head. His thoughts: “The milk in this pail will provide me with cream, which I will make into butter, which I will sell in the market, and buy a dozen eggs, which will hatch into chickens, which will lay more eggs, and soon I shall have a large poultry yard. I’ll sell some of the fowls and buy myself a handsome new suit and go to the fair, and when the young ladies become amorous, I’ll puff my chest and toss my head as I pass them by.” At that moment, he tossed his head and lost the pail full of milk. His father admonished, “Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.”

As children and young adults we take countless uncalculated risks.  As we mature and grow wiser, we learn from our mistakes, and the mistakes of others, and we become increasingly risk averse.   Since the beginning of time — well at least since Aesop in 600 B.C. — the wise and mature sentiments have been “look before you leap”, “once burned, twice shy” and, “don’t count your chicken before they are hatched”.

If you think about that, it becomes easy to understand why those of us who are prepared to take risks — calculated risks — are the ones who are most likely to reap fortunes.

The financial fiasco of 2008 and 2009 are quite literally behind us.  Some of us will choose to batten down the hatches and never put ourselves in a position to have to deal with that again.  Others will look into the future at the opportunities that are presented while so many are shaking in their boots.

The time may never be better invest in your future.  If we go back to Aesop’s fable; the chickens are hatching and it’s time to do something with them.

Here’s a generic example first and we’ll apply it to financial services a bit later on. Think about toothpaste. Its basic function is to clean teeth. Pretty boring stuff right? NOT! Through our ever increasing need for choices, toothpaste’s purpose has expanded over the years to: prevent cavities, freshen breath, whiten teeth, desensitize to heat and cold, brighten smiles and even heighten sexual prowess.

You can walk into most department stores and be faced with an entire mind-numbing isle of selection on shapes, sizes, flavors from this list: Aim, Aquafresh, Arm & Hammer, Colgate, Crest, Darlie, Doramad, Elmex, Euthymol, Gleem, Ipana, Kolynos, Lion, Mentadent, Oral-B, Pepsodent, Sensodyne, Signal, Sozodont, Stomatol, Therabreath, Tom’s of Maine, Ultra Brite, Zendium.

That’s just toothpaste. Imaging being sent to the store for toothpaste, salad dressing and cereal. Essentially, you would be faced with more than 2,000 choices. And, the choices are getting bigger every day.

The common misconception is that choices make things better, they free us up and we are more satisfied as a result. In truth, the exact opposite happens.
Here is what selection and choice does: (Start thinking of these in terms of your practice.)

1. Too many choices can create paralysis to the point of no decision being made at all. Or, more specifically, the decision to make no choice and simply put the decision off. It has been shown repeatedly that when the anxiety and risk of making the wrong decision exceeds possible benefit, then the go-forward decision is simply postponed to tomorrow, then tomorrow, then tomorrow and eventually the decision never happens.
2. When faced with a variety of choices, after a decision is made, people are more easily dissatisfied with their choice. This is because it is easy to imagine the benefits and rewards we might have achieved had we picked something else. Buyer’s remorse or regret are more prevalent when there are a multitude of choices and the most minor malfunction, or lack of performance is quickly compared to the utopia that would have been provided through a different decision.
3. Given hundreds or even thousands of choices for a product or service, our expectations increase significantly when it comes to the rewards of our decision. We believe that surely, with so many choices and options, the decision we make will meet our exact need. In reality, that is rarely the case. Our expectations increase in proportion to the number of choices we have and as a result, the product or service rarely meets our excessively high expectations.
4. We blame ourselves for bad decisions. Surely, with all the choices out there, there is a product or service that is perfect for us. As suppliers push decisions onto consumers, the consumers take ownership for “betting on the wrong horse.” As a result we are even less satisfied with our decisions and even more reluctant to make a decision the next time.
   

   So what does all mean to people in the financial services industry — an industry where clients have access to an almost infinite array of choices?

   You need to balance your client’s need to be informed and be part of the decision with their need to feel comfortable with the decision to the point of not even thinking about it again after the decision is made.

   There is really only one way to do that. With full disclosure in mind, inform them in the simplest terms possible and help them make the decision. Take ownership for the decision whenever possible and keep them informed as to the results. The more work you do in assisting the decision, the less work they will be compelled to do and the happier they will be in both the short and long term.

   Reducing choice to increase satisfaction, retention and even referrals seems counter intuitive. Speaking of choices; simplifying decisions for your clients is a choice only you can make.

Obviously it wouldn’t be great marketing to put up a billboard that announced to the world: “Hey – deal with me – I’m the same as everyone else”.    Or would it?   Imagine a marketing campaign where the audience was told: “You may as well pick me because I’m just as good as the next guy so, why not?”

Okay – hang onto your chair – here’s some news you aren’t going to like.  The truth is, most service companies are pretty much exactly the same.  We can find a hundred lawyers or accountants or financial advisors in any small city and they all say the same thing.

We’re different and here’s how:
•    With us, it’s not all about the money.
•    We care about our clients.
•    We don’t take shortcuts
•    We are experts
•    We take the time to understand your needs
•    We make sure your needs are taken care of
•    We make the complex simple
•    We take the worry out of your decisions

If this sounds familiar, it’s because it IS familiar.

I did warn you that you wouldn’t like it.  Okay, I can hear it now; the denial.    It’s like the 5 stages of grief:  Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.   Companies will not and cannot become truly different in the eyes of their clients until they accept the fact that there are hundreds, even thousands of similar service providers in the same market that are ALL telling their clients they are unique – for exactly the same reasons.

So what’s the point?  The point is that MOST businesses do indeed possess some degree of uniqueness. The important thing to remember is HOW to position that uniqueness to their best clients and prospects. Businesses can no longer afford to market themselves as unique the same way everyone else does – prospective clients simply won’t believe it.  Think about how many times in a day or week you see and hear marketing campaigns built on saving time and money.  It’s old, it’s worn out and it isn’t believable, even if it were true.

In general, all similar businesses are, well… similar.  All audiences believe that and telling them differently won’t convince them otherwise.  The proof of the pudding, as the saying goes, is in the tasting.

What is the answer then?  The answer is incredibly simple.  So simple in fact that it risks being scoffed at.

Each business has one or two things that will be ever-so-slightly different than their competitors when it comes to their target market.  You need to leverage that difference in a way that has both real and potential value to your best clients. The eureka moment comes when you integrate it as part of your brand.  Make sure you visit our articles on Branding for ideas on how to do that.

In Leading Change, Kotter outlines eight necessary steps to effective change. This article deals with the first of these. We’ve all heard some rendition of the saying, if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got. Kotter points out that the very first step to making any significant change is the recognition that change is necessary. He highlights the point by stating unequivocally that change will fail, or not even be attempted, if there is an absence of a visible crisis.

There’s the rub. Recognizing the crisis is not pleasant or easy. It can actually be painful. We plug along, we do what we’ve always done and things just happen. We tweak things, we try this, we try that, we learn along the way and we somehow get a little better and a little stronger.

Real change, the type of change that catapults us to significant success requires a sense of urgency, a sense of crisis. As humans we are pre-wired to look for comfort and to avoid conflict and crisis. By our very nature, we don’t notice subtle changes that happen over time – even though those very changes, if they happened all at once, would accumulate to alert our natural instincts that a crisis had developed.

Here’s an example. Watch this short 12 second video. Be advised up front that there is a change happening. Press the play button now and watch for the change.



Did you spot it? Not likely. Now try it again – this time, Drag the timeline arrow on the bottom of the video to speed it forward and backward quickly and the change will become obvious. If you still can’t see it, try pressing the double arrows to jump to the beginning and the end.

Now play the video one more time at regular speed and look for the change. Wonder how you missed it the first time?

Just like this video, changes are happening around us all the time. They are subtle but they are there. To “create” a crisis, take a look back at how things were just two or three years ago. The unique economic situation aside, what has changed? How has your business reacted to the cumulative changes that have taken place to: client expectations, compliance regulations, subtle product changes, technology, staffing, your personal life.. etc.

In aggregate, had all these changes happened overnight, they would have created a crisis. Because they were gradual, we pretty much rolled with the punches, tweaked and adapted.

What does all this mean? It means that if we want to achieve unsurpassed success, we need to “see the writing on the wall” now! Create your crisis. It’s there, you just need to see it.

As business owners and entrepreneurs, we often ask ourselves the same question. This time the question relates to how much more time, money and energy must we put into our endeavour before we achieve our goal.

Often, the question may seem rhetorical. Are we there yet! It doesn’t have to be. Let’s deal with the question one word at a time.

ARE:

“Are” speaks to measurement. You cannot know if you “are” without some form of comparison, yardstick, benchmark or measurement. Ensure that your progress towards your target is measurable and tracked. Track your progress in every way that makes sense. Just as in a road trip you might measure average speed, to calculate your probable arrival time, use milestones to calculate your progress towards your goals.

Communicate these goals to your team. Ensure accountabilities are understood and being met. Use your team and business coach to assist in making tactical moves where necessary.

WE:

Speaking of team; as with the “are we there yet” car trip, in business, it is important to remember that everyone is in the car together. One person can not arrive alone – it’s an all or nothing deal.

To the entrepreneur, this means building a strong team and trusted alliances. With clear directions (your vision and mission), you can “share the driving”. In order for people to share the driving, the destination and map to follow to get there needs to be clearly drawn out ahead of time. Each person on the team needs accountability for their tasks or leg of trip. They need to understand the purpose of that task to reaching the destination. Use your business plan to align tasks with business values and objectives. A clear understanding of why you are asking people to do things will build a stronger more effective team. Ultimately, a stronger “We”.

THERE:

A colleague recently related a business challenge he was faced with. He took on a new role accountable for overall customer service in a 150 year old risk averse company. Customer satisfaction was non-existent, moral was low, systems were inadequate and there was an overwhelming resistance to change. “That’s not how we do things” was a mantra.

Large changes were necessary and there were challenges. A technology implementation created process inefficiencies as the technology team and the workforce learned how to use it properly. Where a cash infusion was needed to centralize and mobilize the customer service front line, not enough money was available. The short term results were predictable. Instead of customer service increasing – it decreased.

At a management meeting my colleague outlined the challenges and stated he was confident the business could get there. One astute team member in the audience spoke up and said: “we are buried so deep in this mess that we don’t even know where ‘There’ is!” That was his “Ah ha” moment.

Although he personally understood the issues and was confident about what needed to get done, he had not laid out the roadmap and destination for everyone else to see, understand and believe. He needed a clear and concise business plan that others could see and embrace. He needed to define the “There” in a way that meant something to those who needed to share the driving.

To succeed, “There” needs to be clearly articulated in a way that will have meaning to others. One way to accomplish that is through a concise business plan that includes a vision, mission, performance targets, strategies and action plans.

If you have ambitious goals, one of the first steps in achieving them is to articulate them in a way that will have meaning to others. Clearly define your “There”.

YET:

The “Yet” is the amount of time it takes you to reach your destination. One key difference between the “are we there yet” on a road trip and the “are we there yet” in business is the control over time. In the car, you are limited to speed limits and rules of the road. The only real control you have is the amount of time you might spend in rest stops. The only way to get faster is to drive more, rest less and maybe alter your route slightly. That is not true for business. With your business, the “Yet” timeline can be anything you want it to be. Make sure it is reasonable and that all possible routes are considered.

One common mistake is to try and do everything in the first month or quarter of a business plan. Spread the effort out over the entire year. Choose the highest gain or highest priority objectives first. Make your timeline aggressive but realistic and ensure everyone on the team understands the purpose, the timeline, the objective and the importance of their specific role.

So, the next time you hear “Are We There Yet?” think about:

Happy travels.

Branding re-defined

Now that you are scratching your head, let me explain. There is a general misconception about the very definition of “Brand”. The Dictionary of Business and Management defines a brand as: “a name, sign or symbol used to identify items or services of sellers and to differentiate them from goods of competitors.” Wikipedia defines brand as “a collection of images and ideas representing an economic producer; more specifically, it refers to the concrete symbols such as a name, logo, slogan, and design scheme.” We believe these to be classic but dated definitions.

The meaning of “Brand” has evolved significantly over the last decade or so to mean much more than a logo, symbol or design. Brand has evolved to represent your company in a much more holistic view. Today, your brand means the message you deliver. Brand is about the overall customer experience. Taking that point one step further; your brand is not what you say you are, your brand is what your clients say you are. Your brand is the reputation you build with your clients and potential clients on every contact; whether that contact be direct or indirect, intentional or unintentional.

Here is an example that many of you may associate with. Vonage, a leading supplier of broadband telephone service, position themselves as feature rich, easy to do business with and cost effective. That is what they say they are… that is their brand. On the other hand, the Better Business Bureau reports 8,155 complaints about this company in the last 36 months with the majority being billing, service and refund issues. Firstly, consider what percentage of actual complaints get escalated formally with the Better Business Bureau, then, to the question of brand, ask yourself what a Vonage client is likely saying about them. Although Vonage’s marketing and logo and graphics are exceptional, how strong is their brand?

The question of ROI

Instead of asking to define ROI on branding expenditures, we should reframe the question and ask how branding affects the value of a business. The answer to that question is simple. Branding represents the value of your business. Your value proposition is your brand. Brand is a multiplier that contributes to your balance sheet positively if your brand is positive, and negatively if your brand is negative. The stronger your brand resonates with your target clients as being unique and valuable, the larger the multiplier on your bottom line. Unfortunately, as with the above example, the converse is also true as Vonage continues unnecessarily to operate at a loss.

Exceptional logos, images and tag lines should be considered as investments in infrastructure. On their own, they produce no return on investment. They can help position awareness and intention but they alone do not create sales or retain clients. That is why there is no ROI on the creation of these.

For instance, a dozen firms of roughly the same size with roughly the same service offering could spend $20,000 on branding and each achieve significantly different results.

The result they achieve will depend on:

• their awareness of their business priorities,
• their business plan and marketing strategy,
• their ability to solidify action plans,
• their ability to track, report and implement,
• and lastly, the “multiplier” of their brand.

Here is another key point. A branding exercise never ends. Branding is not a project or a one-time campaign. Branding enables and supports current and future business capabilities. Your brand message needs to resonate at every touch point – from what the piece looks like to the tone of the message to the exuberance or professionalism of your service people to the service offering itself.

For the beancounters:

If you started reading this article in the hopes of finding a worksheet to help you build a business case around the return on a specific branding initiative, I apologise if I’ve misled you. Here is a bit of help for the analytical reader. Consider Branding expenditures as expenditures in infrastructure as you would for technology. The technology, in and of itself will not add value to the bottom line. It is the implementation of the technology into current or future processes that will produce value.

For example: if you intent to spend $15,000 to “re-brand” your business, include the costs or integrating that brand into the heart of you business. That means including the cost of integrating the brand message in your organization in a long-term sustainable way. That might (and probably should) include changing the way you do things. For the sake of keeping the numbers simple, let’s assume that is another $15,000. Only then, can you estimate the impact of the exercise. Building a business case on the hard costs of “branding” alone is a sure way to have nothing to measure and as a result a sure way to fail. On the other hand, when you build the branding exercise in an integrated, sustainable and long term implementation, the returns should reproduce themselves year after year with no additional cost. The returns will have become part of who you are and how you do business. You will reap the rewards through ongoing differentiated value you add to your target clients.

One final note:

Brand is like trust. Think of trust as a bucket that you fill for your ideal clients one drop at a time. At every touch point, you add another drop of trust. The trust bucket can take 10 to 15 years to completely fill. We all know that this same trust bucket takes only a moment, one incident, to spill. The same is true for your brand. Build it slowly and consistently, drop by drop. Eliminate everything from your organization that conflicts with your brand – less you risk spilling the bucket.