Brand Matters: Where Are Your Brand Manners?

Give the gift of service to your customers

December 2007 By Andrea Syverson

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Your mother was right. Manners really are important. Please and thank you, common courtesy and civility—where have they gone?

I bring this up as a consumer being treated less than what I would call “pleasantly” by many companies. I think you can relate. Like you, I am over-e-mailed, underappreciated, hassled and bombarded by irrelevant messages. My time is not of marketers’ concern. My past, present and future purchasing power are ignored. My money is taken without gratitude, often by people talking on the phone to a noncustomer. My stress level is increased by too many choices because companies are too lazy to edit their product lines. I am annoyed companies don’t seem to get that I have a life and don’t want to spend extra time doing complicated business transactions with them, let alone doing for them what they should be doing for me. Like Rodney Dangerfield used to say, “I don’t get no respect.”

I bring this up as a brand strategist because companies should know better. This is not news. Even Henry Ford back in the Industrial Age knew that “the only foundation of real business is service.”

Yes, there are companies that do indeed know how not only to mind their manners, but also treat their customers like royalty. You know the companies that do it right because they create a memorable experience:

• A birthday card and thank-you coupon from the president of Talbots.

• J. Crew’s promotion of real people, not machines, answering its phones.

• Citi’s focus on the ease and simplicity of banking with it.

• Zappos.com’s positioning as a service company that happens to sell shoes.

• L.L. Bean’s prompt knowledge of my name and my transactions when it picks up my call.

• Gap’s call button inside its dressing rooms for additional help.

• Charles Schwab’s folksy financial services campaign that touts, “Feel valued, no matter how much you’re worth.”

• JetBlue’s highly publicized Customer Bill of Rights (albeit a bit late!) documenting its dedication to “bringing humanity back to air travel.”

Yes, the mothers of these companies should be proud. The managers, directors, planners and executives of these companies remember that, first and foremost, customers are human beings. They treat them with dignity.

Does Your Brand Mind its Manners?
As Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, has said, “A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn a reputation by trying to do hard things well.” Manners, civility and common courtesy in business transactions should not be difficult, but in today’s ultrafast-paced world, it seems they are. For Ann Ruethling, founder of Chinaberry, a direct marketer of books and other treasures for the whole family, it’s a no-brainer. “We treat customers exactly as we would want to be treated ourselves,” she says. Chinaberry’s Customer Service Manager Patti Guthrie shares, “I speak for our whole team when I say we love the company, and we believe in what it is doing. We all truly care and our customers get that!”

Does Your Brand Treat Customers Like They Want to be Treated?
What do brands with manners do that brands without manners don’t? Here’s a quick etiquette lesson.

Brands with manners do the hard things well. First and foremost, they treat their employees well. Paul Orfalea, founder of Kinko’s, believes “You can’t take care of your customers unless you take care of your people.” Employees are attracted to brands that are mindful not only of their customers but also of them. Feeling well cared for, they are able to share those feelings and positive goodwill with the company’s customers. Cabela’s, for example, is lavish in its policy of letting employees wear and use its outdoor sports gear so that when customers have questions they are able to respond with real-life experiential knowledge. Companies that honor their employees’ needs with flex-time, educational opportunities, bonuses based on performance, etc. usually are repaid with loyalty and a brand attitude that trickles throughout all brand touchpoints.

Brands with manners treat their customers’ time and money with respect. They send simple but relevant offers based on past behavior; they do not waste their customers’ time. Kelly Carpenter, director of National 4-H Supply Service, takes his management role as a customer advocate seriously: “I can be a bit obsessive about our customers. The first time they contact us is our one chance to treat them right. If we cause customer angst, it hurts us not only in the short term, but in the long run as well.” Carpenter is mindful of his customers’ pocketbooks and wants his volunteer 4-H leaders to know his company is grateful to receive their orders. During the busy season, he personally oversees orders, problem-solves and considers it his duty to be a “control freak” for customers.

What does your brand do to show customers you value their time and money? How can you make your messaging and transactions easier and simpler for your customers?

Brands with manners go the extra mile. They do things they know they don’t have to do. They excel in brand gratitude. They create plans and programs that are much more meaningful than traditional loyalty programs, which often are good and convenient for the company, but not truly designed with the customers’ best interests at heart. Bev DeGeorge, vice president of Saint Mary’s Press, an innovative, Catholic publishing company, truly believes the marketing department, which includes the customer care department, exists to serve. “We all feel honored to be able to serve our customers,” she says. “Customer care is an intentional priority, and one we take very seriously. From the way we answer the phones to the quick response time we have in fulfilling orders to just listening to our customers needs and challenges as they teach high school students, we believe in rolling out the red carpet, literally and figuratively, for them.” When you talk with folks at Saint Mary’s Press or at L.L. Bean, you know they are not mindlessly reading scripts. They give their customers the gift of a smiling, caring presence. They are engaged in one-on-one human communication. They are true brand ambassadors.

Steve and Lori Leveen, co-founders of Levenger, a direct marketer of tools for serious readers, just celebrated the company’s 20th anniversary. They are not complacent about brand manners. In a recent letter to their customers, they shared the following: “While we’ve grown in important ways, we’ve also stayed the same where it matters, keeping our customer-centric approach, reading every letter and e-mail you send us, listening to the ways you now want to read and write and work with ideas.”

So, please, take a moment and review your brand manners throughout your entire organization. Just how gracious is your company? What is your true brand reputation? Do your policies and procedures enhance your customers’ ability to do business with you or do they make it difficult? Would your mom be proud of your behavior? Go ahead, do the right thing. Give the gift of brand manners to your customers all year long. Thank you.

Andrea Syverson is president of IER Partners, a strategic branding and merchandising consultancy based in Colorado. She may be reached at (719) 495-2354 or asyverson@ ierpartners.com.