Staff will always be an extension of your brand

A brand is basically that psychological footprint that a company’s service or product leaves in the mind of their customers.It could be the name, term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of the same that people use to identify the goods and services offered as well to differentiate you from your competitors.With increased competition in Rwanda, companies are now more conscious of what branding is all about but unfortunately there are still many who are simply ignorant of the breadth of their brand. I am particularly disturbed by companies that do not realise that their staff members are actually an extension of their brand. The way these staff members conduct themselves at the company premises or away from them has got a huge impact on how people perceive the company brand. We were always reminded that a student wearing school uniform was an ambassador of the school once outside the school. The same principle applies to companies and their employees. There are situations where someone calls the customer care number of a company and the person who picks up has no courtesy to start by confirming that they picked the phone on behalf of the company. The caller needs to know he is speaking to the right person, you know. Then after explaining what the issue is, a utility company may send over a technician to the home of the client. What companies need to realise is that this technician is an extension of their brand and therefore it is crucial for him/her to be aware of that fact and I will explain why. Recently someone was telling me about a technician sent from one of the Pay TV companies in Rwanda who came to her home to fix a problem with her decoder but this technician was simply an embarrassment to the company. In the first place he did not have any form of identification to show that he was from this company. How is a client supposed to trust a technician sent by a Pay TV company who shows up wearing a Skol beer T Shirt and sagging jeans? To make matters worse, the technician was chewing gum the whole time. Such a person slowly kills the brand of the company that he works for. Although it is not good to judge a book by its cover, it was not surprising to hear that the technician above eventually failed to fix the problem. The point I am trying to make is that if you are mindful of your company brand then you should think about their appearance, mannerisms and skills as they deal with your clients. Your brand is very important that you should not let individuals ruin it by going around being a menace to society on behalf of the company. For that reason, always ensure that those who work for or represent the company in anyway are fully aware of what the company strives to be so as not to ruin what you have built for years. They should be decent, knowledgeable and skilled to do a good job without ruining the reputation of the company. Remember they are your ambassadors every time and every where they may be doing work for the company.