Brand Matters : Now That's a Good Question!

How to use questions to strengthen your brand image

As an outsider-insider to my clients, my role is often “questioner-in-chief” (to use a borrowed term from management expert Tom Peters).

Recently, I was leading a brandstorming session with a financial services client when one of the employees pulled me aside during a break and said, “I didn’t want to ask this question in front of the group because I was afraid it would seem silly …” and then proceeded to ask me a very important and profound question pertinent to our strategic planning work. I encouraged her to ask the team that question when we regrouped, as I wanted her to experience the collective “aha!” that would arise as it did for me with her provocative question.

Since then, I’ve been pondering the importance of questions and the cultural dynamics that enable some companies to encourage healthy questioning behaviors while other companies seem to squash them without saying a word. 

Questions Welcome
Questioning is so often the precursor to innovation. Alfred North Whitehead, a British mathematician and philosopher, said, “The ‘silly question’ is the first intimation of some totally new development.” After more than two decades of questioning, I have come to believe that there really are no silly questions.

Even Jerry Greenfield’s (of Ben & Jerry’s fame) lighthearted question, “If it’s not fun, why do it?” is one of utmost importance to its brand. Fun is an attribute at the top of Ben & Jerry’s brand and product fit charts. It is even a tab on the Web site. Having worked with this brand, I know firsthand that fun is something taken seriously and that this question frames its decision making.

In 2003, Frederick F. Reichheld wrote an article for the Harvard Business Review called “The One Number You Need to Grow.” His research showed if brands concentrated on improving just one measure, it should be the answer to this question asked of their customers: “How likely is it that you would recommend our company to a friend or colleague?”

Since that time, a whole business based on this simple question has been launched (Net Promoter), and several books (“The Ultimate Question” and “Answering the Ultimate Question”) have been published.

Author James Thurber wrote, “It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.” What other questions is your brand grappling with, or perhaps should be grappling with, these days?

Create an Environment for Questions
First, do you cultivate a question-asking environment? Without the freedom to raise questions or question decisions appropriately, your brand may have a blind spot.

At Chinaberry, a multichanneler of children’s books and other treasures for the whole family, Ann Ruethling, founder and vice president of creative and merchandising, has created an environment “that any question that is asked gets an open and honest answer. Once enough employees realize that no question is going to be laughed at or ignored or cause problems, they feel comfortable questioning. We enjoy provocative questions, and when working on a project, we include those employees directly involved in the project at hand, as well as those employees sort of superficially involved because often they are the ones to offer a fresh viewpoint.”

Bill Boonstra, owner of Bluestone Perennials, a family owned and operated business for 30 years, asks, “Would you want your daughter/son to work for Bluestone?” A good reflective question on the nature of your present work environment. Is it a collaborative place where employees are energized by what they do? Are people smiling?

Howard Kaplan, director of marketing services for Schiller Grounds Care (and manufacturer of The Mantis Tiller), says his colleagues get quite a bit of satisfaction from firsthand customer connections. “More times than not, our customers have good things to say. Most of the time it is something like, ‘I love my Mantis!’ or ‘You’ll never see me in the garden without my Mantis.’ The Mantis tiller seems to be a tool that is loved.”

“That feeling transcends into our sales and customer service folks,” Kaplan continues. “They feel good about the products under the Mantis brand. They feel confident in telling a customer what the product can do because we don’t exaggerate its ability. We are honest. We encourage the Mantis employees to speak up. It makes the folks here feel that they are the brand, not just people working here.”

Question to Build Loyalty
Secondly, can you handle the answers to tough questions? Many brands have solid customer loyalty programs in place. These are indeed important parts of retention strategies. But take a moment to turn that question around for your brand—just how loyal is your brand to your customers? What have you done for them lately?

Part of what’s made Chinaberry successful for 27 years is this extreme level of customer care. It isn’t just a friendly customer service experience; it goes deeper.

Ruethling shares, “So much of what we do here is intuitive. And it comes from a personal place. For example, unless one of us can personally picture wearing this item or having it in her home on a permanent basis, we wouldn’t think of trying to sell it to anyone. ... We always ask, ‘Will this item truly enrich the life of the person we hope will buy it?’”

Boonstra agrees wholeheartedly. One of the company’s main questions is: “Are we doing what’s best for our customers—not necessarily what’s best or easiest for us?” He adds that he also likes to ask, “How would you handle that order or contact if you knew it was your mother-in-law (assuming you loved your mother-in-law!)?”

Madeleine Mellini, vice president of communications for TouchMath, a multisensory teaching and learning math program, wants to know how her customers measure the effectiveness of TouchMath. This not only helps product development and marketing teams, but also provide insights into Reichheld’s question of the likelihood that TouchMath customers would recommend these products to other teachers and parents.

Listen Up
Thirdly, as questioner-in-chief, I like to encourage my clients to uncover their customers’ pain points. What makes them mad, frustrated or just plain tired in relation to your product, service, category or overall brand experience? If you spend time uncovering these issues and then creatively addressing them, both your customers and your competitors will take note.

Amazon.com wrote an open letter to its customers this past holiday season about “Wrap Rage,” the “frustration we humans feel when trying to free a product from a nearly impenetrable package.” During a recent hotel stay, I found an oversized index card printed on both sides with instructions on how to use the alarm clock on the bedside table. An alarm clock with two pages of instructions! Life just shouldn’t be this hard. No doubt about it, there are many examples of product/service/experience rage out there. Are companies listening? Do they care? Good questions!

So, take some time to question your culture, your customers and your results. And then ask Dr. Phil’s favorite question: “How is this working for you?"

Andrea Syverson is president of IER Partners, a strategic consulting company specializing in innovative brand and merchandising directions. She may be reached at asyverson@ierpartners.com.