Operating a coatings business has its rewards, but it rarely offers comforting reassurance that you’re doing things right. We’re running in a new playing field. Standards by which we measure excellence have shifted. The environment, more volatile and less predictable. Add a downturn economy and it’s easy to find yourself bumped onto the fast lane of frenzy, requiring even more confidence that you’re doing the right things. Here are some of the new measures of brand health. Six big picture indicators that can show you to the right highway.
If you think about it, what we often seek in business (besides profit) is validation. We like to know we’re doing okay. We make hundreds of daily decisions, hoping, perhaps assuming, that we’re on the right course—at least trending in the right direction. But what are the best measures? I stop short of including the words “of overall performance” in that question because I contend that the most relevant indicators of success are bigger than outcome or performance, more cosmic than the balance sheet and, if you will go with me on this one, more about the brand than operations, marketing, or even quality.
Yes, you can have great outcomes and excel in overall performance for quite some time before you begin to notice the warnings. But as good as things might seem, they might not represent the most sustainable route for the long term. There are new standards of excellence and operational performance is just half of the picture.
Are You Excelling or are you Expiring?
If you’re on a ship and suddenly you’re purposely thrown overboard (a feeling I thought you could easily identify with in business) your fate will be sized-up rather quickly. In a short time, you will either drown, tread water or swim to safety. The choices are really the same in business with respect to your brand. The waters are treacherous. We have to focus on what will move us forward—even if it is against the current (pun intended). Take an honest look at your brand. Are you Expiring, Enduring or Excelling?
Take a simple metric like “Consistency” in the first line. If you are “inconsistent” in quality, your clients are going to remember you well. But obviously, being inconsistent is not a sustainable business model. So if your brand represents inconsistency, you’re going expire. Likewise, if your brand is merely “consistent” in it’s delivery, you’re leaving the opportunity to dazzle your clients on the table for the next guy—you’re only getting by for the moment. In the 90s, “consistency” would have been considered excelling, but that’s just how much the playing field has changed. There are new standards by which we measure excellence.
If there is a theme emerging for the new standards of excellence I would call it Engagement. Engagement is important in just about everything we do in the new economy. Simply put, the more engaged you and your employees are focused on delivering compelling products and solutions for your clients, the more your business will probably excel over the long term. In future posts I plan to do much deeper dives into the theme of Engagement.
One last point. Managing your brand’s health cannot negate operations at the same time. In fact, managingyour business remains half the challenge. Here’s a simple equation to remember:
How well you manage your business (operational performance) + How well you manage your relationships (brand performance) = Hope for the future (at least an enduring state, perhaps excelling)
I challenge you to add to my list of brand health metrics. What do you believe defines a coatings business brand that will excel in the current or future economy? What would you label be the equivalent for a brand that was expiring? Let me know what you think.