The amount of time, energy and sweat it takes to attract legitimate prospects these days is getting more intense as are the pool of those vying to win those same clients.  Never before has their been a need for clear and effective strategies to turn those rare finds into lasting relationships. At Breviti, we call this prospect care, an often overlooked opportunity in the sales cycle. The sober realization is that in today’s business climate your competition is working hard to make sure you don’t acquire any of their prospective business. They are wooing, coaxing, and convincing your prospects into believing that they’re the right choice and you are the devil. The key? You have to be more aggressive and you have to treat your prospects better than the rest.

By committing to a sustainable methodology you can position yourself so well that your potential customers will view your competition as mute…a non-entity…a virtual nothing. This is your goal. Here are a few tips.

1. First, before you lift a finger, make the decision that any potential new relationship is not about what you can get. It’s about what you can give. The world has enough self-seeking, self-centered, self-driven people as it is. Operate in a posture of servanthood, and you will instantly be in the top 10% of providers. The fact is, clients can sniff out “me focused” sales people a mile a way. In a nutshell, if you’re out for yourself, you’ll wind up, well, by yourself.
2. Before you meet with a potential client, research the company, its people, products and its competition. It’s impressive when you are knowledgeable of the company and the competition’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s even more impressive when you can speak from the mindset of the customer. The Web is a rabbit trail into every conceivable bit of research you’d need and you always have your network to tap into… someone, always knows someone.
3. Prior to your presentation, find out what is relevant, what they’re specific needs are and base your entire presentation on this information. People are busy and don’t need to hear your brag points, especially if they don’t relate to their objectives. They need to hear a well thought out pitch that “wows” them, otherwise they’re snoring and you’re losing. Sometimes we like to talk about accomplishments to the point of accomplishing nothing but angering the prospect.
4. Depending on the contact, bring something into the meeting that is fun. A box of Crispy Cream Donuts never fails. Bring some stress balls with the preface that if they decide to go with someone else, they’re going to need them. Many creative products are available for you to use. Often their industry will be a clue. For example, if they’re a fishing company, get them a fish novelty. Or if you’re in the investment business and you’re visiting a bakery, get them a pile of fake money and tell them you’ll make them lot’s of dough. Rough ideas, very rough in fact, but you get the point, get creative.
5. At the beginning of your presentation, ask ALL attendees what their expectations are of the meeting. It gets people talking and allows you time to stratify the most critical meeting points. And at the end of the meeting, ask if all expectations have been met. You’d be surprised at how many sales professionals do not exercise this gem. It is truly the essence of sales success.
6. Always follow-up after a meeting by mailing something unique to your prospect. Perhaps you notice they’re into coffee. Send a pound of exotic coffee with a clever note such as “Thought you’d enjoy some coffee while you percolate over your decision. The key here is to notice things around their office and ask questions to find what they like. Then deliver. This is magic in the world of business – caring enough to be different.
7. While the prospect is in the decision process, send them information of value that will help them in their business, their life or their decision making process. During your presentation you’ll hear pain points that you can write down. Later, research articles that will help them overcome these pain points, and e-mail them over.
8. Need I say to always e-mail a thank you note or send a handwritten thank you or card.
9. If you have the capacity to send them some business or refer a vendor that might be of value to them, by all means do it. Be careful here. A bad referral will cost you the business and your reputation. A good referral can often make the difference.
10. Even if they select another vendor instead of you, put them on your e-mail list and send them information of value regularly. Research shows that 20-40% of all new competitor relationships end quickly, depending on the industry, and when they do, they’ll often remember your professionalism.

In closing, point #1 about truly caring for your clients can and should drive you to do some or all of the above. The truth is, practicing a high percentage of the 10 keys indicates your level of commitment to standout. Not practicing them will have simply counted out and eventually knocked out!

If you have a desire to improve your brand identity, rule one is to accept that times have changed. Fifty years ago, you could advertise your brand on a game show and 12 weeks later you’d secure a 50 percent increase in market share. Those days are long gone… forever!

Today, in our over-communicated world, your target market mindset is busy, distracted, and on to the next thing. Your market’s minds are like dripping sponges – leaving little or no room for another “average” brand message. Feel familiar?

For starters, what is your brand? Aside from the foundation of your business net worth, your brand is the real estate you own in the mind of your prospects and clients. For example, when you think of tissues, does Kleenex come to mind? Golf – Tiger Woods? Car safety – Volvo? Regardless of your business size, your brand is somewhere between front-of-mind and nowhere to be found in the mindset of your current or potential clients. The end-game is for your audience to think you as the only solution in your category. It’s called dominating mindshare and it’s a discipline of details practiced by few.

In contrast to yesteryear where branding was the color of your package, the consistency of your graphics and the voice and face of your product, branding is now the total combined experience one has with your company. Today’s branding is a combined effort of how you are selling, servicing and impacting your markets. Your brand is comprised of how you promote and persuade, how you care for your customers and what you stand for… your cause, your mission. How you sell and service and support must be audited, stratified, and integrated to ensure repeatable positive experiences. And for your brand to stay intact, the experiences must stay perpetual with every prospect, client, business partner, investor and employee. It’s a bold philosophy that will position you as the leader in your space with a brand that has staying power – if you have a commitment to brand.

Branding is a discipline. It is an on-going process of planned integration, not a series of shot gunned events.

The backbone of brand development is typically found in how you get the word out using marketing tactics like: web seo and paid search, social media, email campaigns, advertising, direct selling, channel selling, direct response, public relations, etc. The key to effective branding is to first find out what is relevant in the mind of your consumer, position your company to provide it, then deliver better, faster and easier than everyone else. Best guessing is not a good method for finding your position and it should be noted that branding without positioning is not worth very much. For example, one of our clients in the financial services business sold loans to brokers who in turn, sold those loans to end-users. After some cursory research we determined that speed of approval (most important), ease of process and attention to detail were this client’s key points to position. We built our entire brand platform around simple, accurate loan approval in seconds vs. hours, even days. Every ad, every show, every sales rep, mailer, every call, and every detail was built around this message. The brand was speed. The result of this position took them to the number one position in the country. They kept the same brand message during the 5-year push and the net result was close to $1 billion profitability for the campaign. It was and still is one of the great case studies of all time.

Brand discipline lies in keeping the message consistent, not changing it after three months because the phones aren’t ringing off the hook. Adjustment is fine, but be consistent with your message as branding is a process not a singular event. This again is why research to pinpoint market relevancy is critical up front. Branding is serious business, and as a major investment, it’s vital to get your position clear on the starting line.

It’s a little known fact that the biggest long-term brand opportunity lies in how you serve your clients, not just how you sell to them. Nordstrom’s service excellence has allowed them the luxury of spending less on advertising, because their employee commitment to excellence has strengthened their brand to near perfection. Every phone call, return, consultation and purchase is handled so well, that for some, the idea of shopping elsewhere is ridiculous. So while others are spending big to steal Nordstrom customers with marketing, Nordstrom spends more money on training and rewarding their employees to serve clients more effectively. The result? Customer loyalty is sterling and word-of-mouth accolades are perpetual and potent.

When it comes to becoming a brand leader, the discipline is in the details. Your sales calls, website, marketing tools, follow-ups, how you handle client conflict, vendor care, the aesthetics of your building, lobby, dress code, down to the carpet color and brand of toilet paper, etc., etc., etc. all make up your brand. But at the end of the day, the biggest percentage of your brand will be derived from the people. There is tremendous opportunity in enrolling every department in the company and every employee in those departments to realize that the way in which they carry out their service set has a major impact on the company and it’s growth. It is the combination of people, process and best practices all working at the highest level that will have you playing at highest level in your category.

Ever hear of a company that launched a successful new business campaign without a qualified, measurable plan? It does happen, as do lottery winners and the odds are about the same. Fact: No major player in the B2B and B2C space makes a marketing move without research and planning. That’s why they’re the majors. They discover the path of least resistance and the path of highest probability and often know before a project is launched if it will succeed and how well. The good news is you don’t have to be a Microsoft or Proctor & Gamble to market smart.

Perhaps you’re thinking that research is expensive and marketing plans sit on shelves. A fair assumption; but the truth is you will profit immensely from the planning process if it is completed and executed correctly. Guaranteed!

The first step to serious brand and business development success is to discover the who, what, where, when, why, and how of your market and your competition. The next step is to form a measurable, quantifiable and executable plan… a realistic plan… one that will stimulate best thinking, make best use of your resources, identify new marketing opportunities and turn them into manageable measurable results.

The “Who” in the planning process clarifies who you will partner with to develop and execute the plan. Who are the key employees on your planning team and what will their roles be. Who are the necessary marketing vendors. Who are the affiliates, investors and consultants who will be needed for this collaborative effort. In the “who” equation, talent level is critical, so work with the best you can get. Your growth and your sanity depend on it.

“What” implies your position in the market from both a corporate or product/service perspective. Define and/or create value propositions that your audience can only get from you. And please, kill the “more of the same” that exists in your market by differentiating your brand. Go big or go home as they say!

The “Where” question identifies where you will market. It could be to the end-user, channel-partners, affiliates, and people or groups that are talking to the same people you want to talk to. This is your database, and the phrase the “database is the business” couldn’t be more relevant than it is today. Ample time should be spent in this process as company turn-arounds and better bottom lines have occurred simply by identifying, stratifying, prioritizing and approaching the proper markets.

“When” is simply the time frame to execute the plan, usually an annual event with specific tactical timelines for each project and accountability points along the way. The value of the timeline is that it provides foresight to integrate marketing mediums translating into improved marketing effectiveness and the measurability needed to keep your plan and your people on track. A plan without detailed timelines is a fantasy.

90% of all businesses have no strategic plan, 7% have a fragmented plan, the 3% who consistently employ strategic planning - rule the world.

“Why” gets into the mission of the company, the philosophy, the stand. It shows up in the emotion of your people who hopefully have been given a purpose worth 110% participation. For example, at Breviti our mission is: Whatever it takes everyone wins, and we mean everyone; the UPS driver, our vendors, employees, clients, even solicitors get the fullness of commitment to make a positive difference in the lives of people. It’s a mindset we establish with everyone who represents the agency and a commitment we can get our hearts around.

“How” refers to the tactics you will use in the marketing mix; sales and sales promotion, advertising, social media, interactive, public relations, direct response, branding, etc. into a single integrated program for coordination at all marketing levels. Planning allows you to test these tactics and refine their use and their effectiveness, which means over time, you’ll be doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t, thus your marketing will be optimized.

To sum it up, if you want to market smart, you must create a plan, work the plan, measure the plan, refine the plan and finally, reap the success that even the most basic plan will bring. “It’s not rocket science; it’s a simple commitment to plan.”

In a recovery economy when marketing budgets are as scarce as honesty in politics, business professionals are consistently looking for ways to get more business while keeping a close eye on valuable marketing dollars. Spending phobias have set in and most businesses are promotionally paralyzed, not quite sure if any marketing they’re considering will work. At the same time, the uncertainty of business has many people gun-shy about getting on the phone and making sales calls afraid that no one wants to talk to them. It’s quite a crazy market, but there is hope.

Apply the following 10 principles and watch inefficiencies and phobias disappear.

1. Whether or not you consider yourself “good on the phone,” consider being great on the phone simply requires a selfless attitude. Yes, I said selfless. Care for your prospects and you’re a tele-pro of the highest order… instantly. You don’t have to be a super salesperson to make it happen on the phone, just be authentic, well prepared, and throw away the damn script. People are tired of over-plasticized, tele-sellers out for nothing but their own good. Preparation includes getting the right mindset on what you’re committed to accomplish on each call. For me, I pray before I get on the phone. I ask God to help me focus on the needs of the prospect list and to help me serve them as human beings, not merely as a means to my end…or walllet.  2. Take some time to get clear about how relevant your product or service is to the intended audience and get grounded. Conviction sells. If you can’t get connected to the difference that your product or service makes, the prospect will experience an emotional disconnect with your words, and their desire to get off the phone will resemble that of their desire to get out of the dentist’s chair. 3. Slow down. An expert once told me: “Slow down your conversation, nothing bad happens.” It enables you to think clearly and it allows the prospect to actually process the information you’re presenting. Slowing your pace also comes across as a sign of confidence as opposed to the rapid-fire nervous pitches we frequently experience… loathe. 4. As mentioned, never read directly off a script. You will sound like a robot. Reference the script if you need to, but you should have the pitch down cold every time you get on the phone. 5. Tele-selling is a numbers game. In our business, we know that out of twenty five contacts, we get one appointment, and it takes two appointments to make a sale. So “fifty contacts” is money. Create your matrix by measuring the averages and you’ll have your formula for winning. 6. Often, the secretary, administrative assistant or the infamous gatekeeper can be your biggest obstacle. Wise tele-sellers make these gatekeepers their friends as quickly as possible by treating them as valuable assets. In the movie Wall Street, Bud Fox asks the secretary what gift would entice Gordon Gecko, his prospect in his effort to score an appointment. She replied, “Fine cigars.” Bud sent over the cigars and landed the appointment. 7. If, when making cold-calls, I can’t get through to the marketing department, I ask the receptionist to be transferred to accounting. They always take calls. Once they answer, I apologize and ask to be transferred to the marketing department. An inter-departmental transfer always has a better chance of getting through than it coming from the receptionist, who’s trained to throw you into the voicemail abyss. 8. I don’t always recommend leaving a voice mail, but if you do land there 50 times, leave a voice mail, make it brief and to the point, friendly, not pitchy. Occasionally, the timing may be perfect, and getting call backs are the icing on the cold-calling cake. 9. When you do get the prospect on the phone, notice their style and mirror it. If they talk slowly and softly, tone it down. If you sense they are bottom-line oriented, tell them you’ll be brief and get right down to it. This wins big points in attaining a listening ear. 10. If your personality allows it, have some fun with people. Dialing for dollars doesn’t have to be mundane.” For example, I do impersonations. Occasionally, if the voice on the voice mail seems friendly, I’ll leave a message using a Yogi Bear or Rodney Dangerfield impersonation. It’s actually landed a few call backs and the ones that think I’m an idiot are not the type I want to do business with anyway.

In closing, tele-communicating is a skill-set and a heart-set you can use effectively in building relationships or in business. The keys are to be empathetic, prepared, stay prospect focused, get innovative, keep dialing. Now go call someone!

In the business to business environment, the most effective form of marketing is the phone… it’s the cheapest too!

With a Starbucks 50 feet from our back door, 15 restaurants within walking distance, and an easy access location, OTO was the obvious choice for many reasons, most important of which is – clients love it. Our new address is 128 South Glassell, Orange, CA 92866 and our new number is 714-656-0099. Feel free to drop in if you’re in the area to say hi.

Main entrance to Breviti's office

Interior of Breviti

Breviti Lounge - the sofa is so comfortable.

Work Stations

Conference Room

As an Organizational Development trainer for CultureROI, Ennio Salucci, (yeah, he’s Irish) joins Breviti part-time to head up business development for ShiftPoints, an internal and external brand awareness tool using transformational content to impact both company employees, and the company’s client base. Ennio has provided cultural development services for Microsoft, Tokyo Electronics, JZMK, VHA, Utilities, Inc., and many others.

Greg joins Breviti as a thought-leader in interactive design with over 16 years creating for entertainment, consumer products, retail, food, cosmetic, transportation, automotive, and distribution industries. Having run his own gig for 8 years, his firm delivered creative design, web development and branding solutions to companies from $10 to $100 million in revenue, as well as project work for the Fortune 500. Greg is a seven-time winner of the American Graphic Design Award, and four-time winner of the Creativity Annual Award, and other prestigious awards.

What you need to know about getting better response from traditional and digital communications.

When was the last time you read a brochure, cover to cover? How about an email newsletter start to finish? A website all the way through? I thought so. Fact is, people don’t read much anymore; they scan at best. According to the Direct Marketing Association and other authorities, us busy folks in the business world are reading less, scanning more and looking for key messages that compel us to take whatever next step doesn’t require us to read anymore. Unfortunately, most copy is written in a verbose style with pseudo-clever headlines that mean nothing, subheads that reinforce the lame headlines, and buried in the text that the reader rarely gets to, are the value propositions, if there at all.

Yet, in today’s media-saturated world, the art of verbosity seems to be alive and well and the concept of brevity seems to be a lost art relegated only to those few who are committed to giving their audience the gift of focused and effective communications.

So just what does brevity mean in the realm of marketing?

brev·i·ty ˈbrɛv ɪ ti – [brev-i-tee] noun. Webster proper: 1. the quality of expressing much in fewer words.

Brevity – author redefined. 1. The principal of marketing smarter, not harder, stronger, not longer. 2. Velocity, not verbosity. The difference between communicating and aggravating.  3. A clear indicator of excellence, intelligence and competence. 4. What people want, appreciate and respond to. 5. The only truly effective way to communicate these days.

How you communicate is a direct reflection of your brand.

It’s no secret that it’s intensely more difficult to write something with brevity than it is to bang away at the keys until the story is told. It actually takes longer to tell the story in less words… in some cases, much longer. But it’s worth the stretch. When people read a marketing piece that gets to the point, the perception the reader gains from the marketer is intelligent, focused, concise, articulate, wise and straightforward. In contrast, a marketing piece filled with copy from head to toe with no order or strategy creates; stress, frustration, confusion and discouragement. Multiply that by the thousands one has sitting in the storeroom or going out to their prospects and it can get pretty depressing.

Since a company’s brand is the emotional connection one has with that company, there is an inherent responsibility for the brand to pay attention to the details. I happen to believe that one of the indicators of how much a company cares for its audience manifests in how well they communicate to them. It’s the “we know you’re busy, so here’s the skinny,” approach. Companies that employ the discipline of brevity and clarity in their communication to their prospects, clients, investors, employees, the media and more are considered as leaders contrasting the verbose. If companies today understood that marketing is primarily designed to provoke, persuade and direct, not necessarily to educate or close the deal, we’d have a lot less verbiage floating around in the “ad”mosphere, and people would be prone to read materials more often.

The formula for Brevity. It’s all in your head.

Not to give away the farm, but the formula for great marketing communication are the following: First, realize the discipline of brevity will always force better thinking and embrace the challenge of condensing the message as a new and effective habit. Next, identify the most relevant, compelling and true value propositions for your company, product or service. This is the platform by which you will communicate.

“A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a blueprint should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”

Now consider that your main messages have to be communicated clearly in the headlines, subheads, floating quotes or phrases. Again, people scan. If they pick up value by reading the big, they’ll get to the small. If the big doesn’t grab, you’re sunk. Use photography, charts and graphs whenever they can reinforce or replace the message. It’s been proven that people zero in on visuals first and done right, a picture can truly be worth a thousand words. The goal of the entire piece, whether ad, direct mail, brochure or website should be to communicate the real value in just the headlines, subheads and supporting visuals. If the message is heard there, your chances of them digging into the copy are multiplied, or they’ll just pick up the phone and call.

It’s not always bad to write long copy assuming the right project and a predictable audience.

There are defined marketing objectives where a comprehensive approach to copy is welcomed and that approach is to educate and sell. In marketing situations where no live call or presentation is availed to explain the details, be comprehensive. Or if you have an audience that has a strong affinity to the topic, cut loose a bit. But keep in mind; this is still no excuse to write without any sensitivity knowing that the recipient has a life that would well served if you convey the message more succinctly. Tools such as white paper, articles, and advertorials are the few pieces that beg for more detail – relevant, provocative and factual detail.

So in concept, If you can tell the guy who doesn’t see the bus coming to “STOP,” in contrast to “Excuse me sir, do you have a moment, I’d like to take this opportunity to notify you that there’s a”… BAM!!!, you’ll be supporting the revolution of Brevity. And if you minimize the quantity of words you would use when marketing your company, products and services, you’ll notice a serious receptivity from everyone who comes in contact with your brand and an increase in marketing performance at all levels.

These days, the most commonly misunderstood phrase in the world of marketing is “Return on Investment” (ROI). Most marketing agencies proclaim they can deliver it, most clients say they never get it. Hmmm? Actually, there’s reality in both cases. But the real truth is that Marketing-ROI must be fully understood before bent, folded, spindled or mutilated.

In this article, I’ll reference a company’s brand – which is created through effective marketing and customer care, and I’ll make reference to the brand creating ROI. The brands I reference are clear that the cornerstone of their brand development is ensuring the back-end of the business is delivering what the front-end is promising. In short, the brands I speak of have the whole package: exemplary production, incredible service, and highly aggressive marketing.

To understand ROI requires opening our minds more than our spreadsheets.

To most CFOs and CEOs, ROI resembles spending $10,000.00 on marketing and receiving $20,000.00 back. This seems to be the box ROI is stuck in. This CEO believes differently. There are numerous factors and components to Marketing-ROI. Hence, it is virtually impossible to measure every one let alone tracking the marketing expense to profit ROI that 90 percent of companies don’t measure. Measuring ROI is part philosophy, part science and part instinct.

It’s no surprise when a company invests marketing dollars it expects a return on those dollars. But when the dollars return is a critical issue. Most companies actually believe that Marketing-ROI should happen immediately. Pure fantasy, in most cases. For example, let’s say I spend $1 million on marketing and in the first year I receive $800,000.00 in profit from 10 clients. Is it a loss? Some would say yes. However, if I keep eight of the ten clients I acquired and expand their business flow, perhaps I’ll get a conservative $600,000.00 in business from those clients for a two year return of $1.4 million with no marketing costs associated. That makes a return of 20 percent per year with every following year, in essence – free money. The original million invested based on long-term value will turn into millions if client retention ratios are high. The point is marketing should be viewed “like” the stock market” in that long-term growth, not shortsighted thinking is the key. Sensitive example, but you get the point. Long-term value of a customer, (LTVC) is nothing new. But in a world where instant gratification is paramount, LTVC is but a vapor in today’s impatient marketing minds. How about Brand-ROI created through committed marketing? E.g. your visibility, your voice, your reputation in the marketplace. What value does that have? Again, difficult to measure. But consider for a moment the worth of the Microsoft brand vs. Linux brand. Both are operating systems. Hypothetically, if both companies were doing the same volume with the same profitability and both companies went on the auction block today, which would sell for more? Linux? Wrong. Microsoft’s brand is worth several times its profit multiple and in the mind of the market it’s the obvious choice for equity value. Nike and Puma are another example. The value is that the principle holds water all the way down to the small business. Stronger brand equity, greater ROI. No brainer!

Marketing-ROI shows up in people, in loyalty, in productivity, in ease of business and in stronger relationships, all which affect the bottom line.

ROI investment measurement can show up financially, relationally, and emotionally.

Another overlooked ROI principle is what I call the “Credibility ROI” of world-class brands with strong marketing disciplines. When a representative from a name brand company calls a prospect and a representative from a no-name company calls that same prospect, who has the path of least resistance, whose job is easier, and who would the prospect rather hear from?” The answer is obvious. It’s certainly better to hear a positive, “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of you guys” than it is to hear, “I’ve never heard of you, what do you do?” Ouch! The fact is, presenting is easier, phone work is easier and closing deals is easier when you have a world-class brand. Asking a client for a referral is easier and the results far superior when your brand is strong. Does this translate to ROI? You bet it does. People want to do business with market leaders. It makes them feel better and some cases, they’ll pay more for it creating even more ROI.

How about employee performance and Marketing-ROI or Employee-ROI. It’s a commonly overlooked fact that employees who work for companies that are respected in their industries have a higher productivity ratio then those that aren’t respected. They take more pride in their work, they take their job more seriously, and their passion for promotion has them working harder and longer. Not to mention tenures of employment are known to increase across the board minimizing costly hiring and firing. The result? Better service and quality securing greater long-term client loyalty. Any ROI here? Absolutely!

Do companies with better brands attract better talent? Well let’s see. Considering that you like the industry, would you rather be an employee of Mercedes or Kia. Nike or Saucing, Rolex or Timex?  Point? Hot companies attract hot talent. In fact, well-branded companies don’t have to seek talent, talent is knocking at their doors… daily. Is there such a thing as Talent-ROI? Mention the name Jack Welsh to General Electric stockholders, Stephen Jobs to Apple shareholders, and you’ll have your answer.

Will better brands attract stronger, smarter investors and board members – those with valuable contacts who bring more business possibilities to the table? Do more investment dollars create possibility for greater ROI? Can a better board of directors create more ROI?

Here’s an obscure one. Let’s call this one Vendor-ROI. If Nike or a no-name shoe company were to place a first time order for shoelaces and the dollar amounts of the transaction were the same for both; and the vendor, due to production constraints could only deliver one of the orders, who would get the order? Who would get better service and who would ultimately be the priority? Also consider that companies that have marketed themselves into larger companies buy more, get better pricing and garner favorable terms, sometimes without even asking. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out the ROI here.

Now here’s a real stretch to consider. Barring the workaholic type, might, just might, an executive who is impassioned about their company brand come home excited with a bit more energy to bring more Relational-ROI to the family? I’ll let you answer that based on the “executive that comes home to their family who has just left a job they hate only to have to go again in 12 hours.”  What type of ROI draining baggage do they carry around at work?

In the same neighborhood as Relational-ROI, there’s something called Emotional-ROI: the overall feeling or emotions of each employee in the company. Or in other words… the culture of the company, what many consider to be in the top three most important aspects of any business, any size, anywhere. We all know it’s better to work for well-marketed companies with strong brands than to work for those that “choose,” yes choose to “play to play,” not “play to win,” in the marketing and branding game.

The ROI of this article is to create the paradigm that Marketing-ROI goes far beyond the bottom line into areas of a company that wind up back in the bottom-line. With aggressive, strategic and consistent marketing and brand building, ROI will show up at every level in your organization, or your competitors’ depending on your commitment to brand.

Who needs Ambien? Just read your company’s Mission, Vision and Values a couple of timezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Sitting dusty on shelves throughout the country are millions of Mission, Vision and Values (M.V.V.) statements that started out with good intentions, but never quite made it into the DNA of the company culture or into the markets they serve. It’s what we call M.V.V. – D.O.A and we see it in companies with $5 million a year in sales to $5 billion. It seems that no one is immune to the demise of these costly initiatives which start off with executive audits, questionnaires, and surveys only to end up in a document that reads like Leo Tolstoy’s – War and Peace.

For starters it helps to realize that M.V.V. are more than just a cultural roadmap, they’re an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of people. It also helps to understand what they are… really!

To demystify a bit, the Mission has to do with what the company stands for. It touches briefly, if at all on what the company does, but focuses largely on the philosophical stance of the company while doing what it does. It addresses the impact the company will make in the lives of the people who are connected to the brand along the way, and again, is more philosophical than tangible, more emotional than cerebral, more life-line than bottom-line.

The Vision focuses on what the company will accomplish and by when – if timing is a consideration. It is designed to create accountability to specific progress in the short and long term. In contrast to mission statements and core values, which should remain constant, the vision statement will evolve over time as the company lives out its vision. Achieving the current vision is a call to adapt a new one, as are changing market conditions, economic factors, product extensions, new market initiatives and many other variables.

Core values are the character traits that people in the organization will demonstrate to accomplish the mission and the vision. They are the “ways of being” of the culture and are the most difficult to drive into the Corporate DNA. This is due to the diverse business backgrounds, ethnicities, and experiences of people who desire to create and maintain their own values, while perhaps considering new ones. A person’s values are highly personal and are rarely changed unless the leaders in the culture exemplify stronger, more relevant values to both corporate and individual progress.

Creating Mission, Vision and Values that inspire is as much art as it is science

Developing M.V.V. that resonate with a company is no easy task. It usually starts with a series of interviews with executives, middle management, and in some cases, trickles down to the shop floor where a series of questions draws out the mindset and heartset of the company. Everyone gets excited, voices are heard, opinions are considered. Then a very strange thing happens: the data get crafted into the longest conceivable sentences in the history of mankind. There is an odd pressure to make sure every principle discussed winds up in the M.V.V. somewhere and the fear sets in. Fear that if they leave something out, it just won’t work. The net result are overly homogenized M.V.V. that leave the reader uninspired, confused and searching for aspirin. “This is it?” they say. “All this work, and we get M.V.V. that sound the same as every other company I’ve ever worked for.” Not quite the result we are looking for…is it?

Bottom line? Have two versions of the M.V.V., one where the main statements are creative, short and retainable, and a longer well-explained discourse on the meaning and execution of the brief statements. All text should be written to tap into the emotions of all concerned as people are moved by emotion more than logic. For example our mission at Breviti is to “whatever it takes, everyone wins.” It’s short, memorable, and it has become many of our team’s life mission statement as well. The expanded version of our mission articulates what that means and doesn’t mean in the context of working with each other, our clients, our vendors and affiliates. It’s a statement that empowers each individual to bring their own interpretation and contribution to the mission, something organizations shouldn’t be afraid of. People will do what is right more often if they are given clear direction and the freedom to express themselves. Our vision is “Keep clients happy, keep them for life.” This focuses our team on perpetual client satisfaction, regardless of cost or comfort and puts the client first, always. The core value is just one; Serve others the way you’d like to be served. You’ll see there’s nothing in the statements about what we do as a company and that is intentional. We believe everyone who is hired by the company doesn’t need another useless redundancy about what they already know, nor do the clients, vendors, partners, investors, etc. We desired to make our  M.V.V.  easy to discuss, easy to promote, and easy to memorize. After all, what good are they if no one can remember them. You can’t hold people accountable for M.V.V.  let alone inspire them, unless they can recall what they are.

Once you have succinct, memorable and emotionally compelling M.V.V. then what?

The reason why shelves are filled will M.V.V. – D.O.A. is because there is rarely a plan developed for how to roll them out into the culture. There are two components to drive the M.V.V. through the culture: perpetual communication into the organization and on-going training of the people, departmentally and collectively.

The communication component requires developing and distributing content into the culture to keep M.V.V. front-of-mind. Environmental graphics, cubicle posters, the website/Intranet, e-mail, snail mail, newsletters, promotional items and desktop tools are some of the vehicles that can be used to deliver messages and information that support the M.V.V.. How often and how much data people should receive depends on the learning posture of the organization, the current work loads, status of the economy, world conditions and a variety of psychological factors that will affect an individual’s threshold to receive, retain, process and make good use of data. There’s a balance, and companies that are sensitive to people’s learning stamina will always make an effort to employ brevity, and more importantly, creativity in communication and the methods by which they are distributed.

The training component ensures that C-level, middle and senior management are trained to lead by example, an absolute essential to any cultural development program. The most brilliantly crafted M.V.V. in the world can’t  influence a company whose leadership team isn’t walking the walk. Although communicating the M.V.V. into the company will have an impact, it’s when leadership lives them out that, a transformation can occur… a revolution. The greatest successes we’ve had in organizational development came by delivering innovative communications backed by leadership seminars, workshops, and topic-specific training modules through which the organization learned to train itself over time.

So what’s the ROI of M.V.V?

It’s quantifiable through research that companies with great cultures have stronger employee retention, secure better employee performance, attract better talent and influence more consistent innovation. The money that companies invest into their culture is dwarfed by what returns. But more relevant is that they are making a true, life-impacting difference with individuals where they spend most of their time in life – at work. Today, employees are looking less at the money that companies can offer and more of the lifestyle they can deliver and how they will care for their them, now and in the future. The new generation coming up is screaming, “Do you really care about me… really, do ya punk?,” and the older generation is asking “Mammy, where have you been all my life?”  Companies who desire to be innovators in business today are learning that the corporate vision is something worth striving for, but only if it fulfills personal visions as well. And although you can’t please all the people, all the time, a little effort goes a long way here. Smart leaders in business are closing the chasm between the employee and corporate structure by being relevant, sincere, and connected to what matters. Everyone else is in the either in, or moving into the employee replacement business.

So what next? It’s simple, but committed, energetic execution is everything. Create or re-engineer strong, retainable M.V.V. develop a plan to roll them out, never stop communicating the principles in the organization, and never stop training.  Wise leaders who maintain this discipline in their cultures understand that culture development programs have a beginning, and a middle, but no end. Unwise “leaders” who don’t are somewhere between the beginning and middle of the end.

If you’d like a complimentary review of your M.V.V., your brand promise, and the methods by which you deliver them, call Dean Del Sesto with Breviti @ 714-656-0099.