Brand Space: Staff Cannot Deliver What They do Not Know

Many customer-facing employees do not have a brand service lens to evaluate their service delivery beyond good or bad generic service. They do not know the unique components of their brand, the brand's DNA. This is probably why so many service representatives are convinced they normally deliver good customer service. Viewed through a generic service lens, service was good if it was speedy, polite, and perhaps even friendly. However, these qualities do not necessarily deliver a specific brand experience.

Common sense tells us that in order to deliver branded service experiences, staff at a minimum must know

• the brand has value and means something specific

• everything an organization does potentially affects the brand—positively or negatively

• which specific behaviors reinforce the brand

Once staff understand the DNA of their brand (see chapter 4), we encourage them to use the terms "on-brand" and "off-brand" to identify behaviors that are aligned with the brand and those that are not. This will help everyone easily understand the role of customer service in relationship to the brand. The concept of on-brand and off-brand encourages quick evaluation of service interactions on the criteria that matter the most. We have found these terms are extremely easy to use, are rapidly adopted by employees, and provide everyone with powerful verbal tools.