1. IIT Delhi
Executive Certificate Program
23 June 2012

2. Internal Branding and
Corporate Communications
Padmaja Krishnan
Connecting Employee Behavior and
Customer Service with the Brand
Proposition

3. BRAND in Services Space
Establishing and Sustaining the BRAND is tough
It is an on-going, engaged process
Many Service providers are targeting both
“Enterprises” and “Consumers”
Similar approaches may not work in the two
worlds : B2B vs B2C

4. Service is a REAL TIME Experience
A service is experienced in real time as the
service is being delivered – unlike a product
Hence the expectation mismatch manifests many
folds
Expectation Mismatch leads to a negative spiral :
Tall Promises + Poor Service Expectation Mismatch
Low Employee Motivation Dissatisfied Customer
Adverse impact on BRAND Loss of Face & TRUST

5. The Positive Spiral
Realistic
+ Right Service Meet the Expectations
Promises
Motivates Employees Satisfied Customer
Strengthens the BRAND Builds TRUST

6. OUTCOME of an Intervention project
Ingrained in the CULTURE of the company were:
• Unrealistic Promises to secure Business
• Under-delivery on Promises
• Unpredictable services, Unhappy customers
• Breach of TRUST
All leading to loss of customers and business
Improvements were seen in 6-12 months
2 HARD directives were given
• We will NOT COMPRMISE on CUSTOMER SERVICE,
once engaged
• We may walk away from business - if we cannot deliver
satisfactory service

7. What is Brand
Your brand is your image and is the
company’s most valuable asset
Brand is conveyed by every experience, product, action
and employee over the life of the company
EVERYTHING originated by the company impacts the
brand, from the product produced to the documents
developed, to the employees answering the phone…
Brand creates an emotional experience – renders its
human qualities to the organization
To be effective and to be uniquely recognized for
something - A brand must be consistent

8. Why is Brand valuable ?
Brand identifies who you are, what
you do and what you stand for
It is your Brand that sets you apart from your
competition
Brand creates a desire or demand for your company’s
products or services in the market place

9. What should Brand do ?
Your brand should define who you are to the
individuals who matter most:
Your customers - Your prospective
customers -Your employees (past,
present, and future) – Your partners,
vendors, investors ….

10. What else can Brand do ?
Brand gives employees a common understanding
of not only What we do for our living as a company,
but also How we do it
An employee who achieves this state of
mind and practices it every day - “Lives
the brand”

11. How to protect your Brand ?
Employees are the faces and voices of your
company’s brand
Absolutely everyone in the company should
understand the brand – its meaning, the
values and the propositions
Employees will have more influence over your
company’s brand image than anyone else or
anything else that your company may do

12. What matters the most ?
Dave Olsen, Starbucks Chief Coffee Buyer
was asked:
What is most important to the Starbucks brand…
Is it the coffee, the store or the people?
After thinking for a moment he
answered, “Everything matters.”

13. Employees make all the difference
Starbucks Chairman & CEO Howard Schultz:
“Ultimately, Starbucks can’t flourish and
win customers’ hearts without the
passionate devotion of our employees…
Their passion and devotion is our number
- one competitive advantage. Lose it, and
we’ve lost the game.”

14. Product to Brand - Life Cycle
Employees Employees
Employees
Employees
Employees Employees
Employees
& The HOW’s need to be
understood

15. Eventually …
The “Brand” becomes more distinct than the “Product”
It is firstly, A Name for identification & recognition
Secondly, it s a set of added values that offer both
functional and psychological comfort or edge over its
competitors
“If Coca Cola lost everything except ‘the
formula’ and its brand name , it could still
walk into any bank in the world and get $100
billion loan to start from scratch”
Fortune Magazine

16. The Miracle Happens
ONLY When employees
understand and behave the brand

17. Understanding the Brand
Will mean understanding the brand attributes, such as :
Name Logo Name : why this
name, associated
pride, origin etc…
Colours Essence
Colors have meanings
Red is energetic
Blue is peaceful
Purple is Royalty
But essentially, a consumer is looking for the essence in a brand

18. Brand Essence
Stems from the “Brand idea”
Eg: Singular, Consistent, Fresh, Interesting
A brand essence must “leverage a compelling truth”
o Linux stands for freedom and Microsoft stands for popularity
A brand should mean “ONE single powerful thing” :
The essence
o Essence of Volvo is Safety
o Essence of Tata is Trust
o Raymond brands the complete man for over 2 decades
o Essence of Dettol is protection against germs

19. Brand Alignment
• Brand alignment is a critical driver of Business Strategy
• A complete brand alignment would mean that the Brand is
understood, expressed and internalized by every part of the company
Finance &
Admin
HR & RMG
IT & Systems
Business Brand Business
Marketing & CC
Strategy Strategy Growth
Service Lines
Business Units
Enablers

20. Behavioral Transformations in people
Transformation is essential for Brand alignment
TRANSFORM TO
Reactive Proactive
Account Centric Customer Centric
Tools & Business
Technology Outcome
Cost Centric Business Centric
Departmental Collaborative
Operations People
Management Management
Managers Leaders
& Transform Employees to Brand Ambassadors

21. Brand Alignment for Employees
INFORM
• Generate excitement KNOW
• Build momentum YOUR
Brand Policies
• Signal & Lead change BRAND
Performance
Measurement
Brand
ENGAGE Seminars
Brand
• Create brand advocates BELIEVE Ambassador
Align
Coaching
• Establish personal relevance IN YOUR
Engage Rewards &
• Sustain momentum BRAND Pre-launch Recognition
Brand
Inform
ALIGN Workshops
• Reward brand behavior LIVE Internal
• Measure performance Brand Launch
YOUR Seeding
• Align policies, programs BRAND

22. Google example
Google shared an article by its employee #16,
Susan Wojcicki – some Highlights are :
• Strive for continual innovation, not
instant perfection
• Look for ideas everywhere
• Share everything (with employees)
• Spark with imagination, fuel with data
As it says on our homepage, ‘I’m feeling lucky.’
That’s certainly how I feel coming to
work every day, and something I
never want to take for granted

23. Internal Communications
Integrate Transformation & Corporate Communications
October
July Integrated
Stakeholder Advertising, PR,
briefings & Client
Internal Communications &
Communications Web Campaigns
June July August September October
June August Conduct regular
Brand Audits
Launch Test &
internal Brand Validate
awareness Campaign
campaign

24. Guess What the outcome can be ?
If only every employee who is servicing our
customers “ Lives the Brand ” in every possible
way !
In other words,
what if every employee became
“The Brand Ambassador” of the
company
“Brand behavior “ is same as “Living the Brand”

25. Moments of Truth
Each customer contact is called a “moment of truth”
Only employees have the ability to satisfy or dissatisfy
the customer when they contact us.
A service recovery is an expensive process of
satisfying a previously dissatisfied customer and
bringing them back on track.

26. Dimensions of Service Quality
Reliability: Perform promised service dependably
and accurately
Example: send service executive on time or status
update every day at the same time
Responsiveness: Willingness to help customers
promptly
Example: avoid keeping customers waiting without
any reason

27. Dimensions of Service Quality
Assurance: Convey trust and confidence
Example: respect for customer, offer help and solution
Empathy: Approachable any time
Example: 24x7 customer relations
Tangibles: Facilities and demos
Example: Visits and free trials

28. Perceived Service Quality
Word of Personal Past
mouth needs experience
Service Quality Expected Service Quality Outcome
Dimensions service 1. Expectations exceeded
Reliability ES<PS (Quality surprise)
Responsiveness 2. Expectations met
Assurance Perceived ES~PS (Satisfactory quality)
service 3. Expectations not met
Empathy
Tangibles ES>PS (Unacceptable quality)

29. Customer Service Quality Gaps
Customer Customer
Service Understanding
Customer Customer Management Perception
Perceptions Customer Expectations Customer Of Customer Expectations
Satisfaction Market Research
Gap 1 Gap 2
Customer Service
Service Quality Management Design Design
Gap 5 Gap 3
Conformance
Service Service
Delivery Conformance
Standards
Gap 4
The above Gaps are minimized by Employees “Who Live the Brand”
The aggregation of all the above Gaps when minimized
results in a Powerful Brand

30. Where does the Brand reside ?
In a mysterious
corner of the minds
of many, many
people who have
used, experienced
or heard about your
product / service
directly or indirectly
How do we influence their minds ?

31. There is a strong interlocking of …
EMPLOYEES
CUSTOMER
SERVICE
In the minds of
BRAND people who are
in touch with you
and are
watching you !

32. Employee Engagement
Our brand relates to WHAT’s
EVERYTHING and distinguishes us
WE DO AND
SAY as a company From our
IT UNIFIES
competition
US
Executive Communications
Town Hall, VCs, Webcast, E-mails
News Letter
Employee Magazine
& HOW’s Brand Events – By Brand Ambassadors
Brand Compliance Audits & Quizzes
Brand Awareness Contests
Employee Blogs & Chat Forums
Poster Competitions

33. WHY SHOULD I KNOW OUR BRAND
&
Market
OUR SHARE
PERFORMANCE
will improve
Brand
AWARENESS

34. HOW CAN BRAND HELP ?
Through
our
brand and
employees
we
can
build clients
with
a our
stronger
EMOTIONAL
CONNECT
Its like a string of pearls – its precious – handle it with utmost care !

35. HOW CAN I HELP ?
Just Lend a shoulder to build the BRAND – Become a BRAND AMBASSADOR

36. Contact
Padmaja Krishnan, Founder Director
padmaja.krishnan@emergingedges.com
t: +91 9811100858
Thank You !