Getting on well with the customers requires that brands constantly assess the relationships. Today, clients’ satisfaction is more than gathering data that are not meaningful. Client satisfaction measures the extent to which a client’s expectations for a good or service are met. Total customer satisfaction is key performance indicator that is crucial to brand’s success. Until brands focus on customers’ best interest and ensure beyond satisfaction level of service delivery that delivers value, the brand may be on its way to silent death.

We must remember that even before customers have encounter with the brands, they already have a notion about  the brand’s tangibles which deal with appearance of the brand’s physical facilities, personnel, communication, corporate reliability which deal with ability to perform as promised, dependably and accurately; responsiveness which deals with willingness to help clients to provide prompt service as well as  brand competence i.e  Possession of the required skills and knowledge to perform the service, courtesy Politeness, respect, consideration and friendliness of contact personnel, credibility in terms of trustworthiness, believability, honesty of the provider, communication, keeping customers informed in language they can understand and listening  to them. Having said these, it will be good to wrap up our discussion on the above by supporting the earlier made points with the followings.

1. Create a formal structure of clients’ dialogue: Communicating with the client must be done with finesse. A proper structure should be established. Sending nasty messages should be avoided by all means. I have personal experience here and my conclusion is that it does not worth it no matter the attitude the client put up.

2. Agree on metrics: It is expedient to also agree with the clients on how both parties are going to measure success of the dealings. Most clients do not want to put pen on paper but at the end they will argue that the brand is at fault. So set parametres from day one.

3. Ensure a clear understanding of the financial relationship: Models of financial commitment structures should be made clear from day one. The client has to know when to pay for the service and how much is to be paid. If this is not done, bitterness, argument may spoil the relationship.

4. Remember to always build-face- to face relationship: It makes the brands bond better than a thousand emails.

5. Always maintain offline conversation to strengthened the ties

6. Every brand ambassador should know and play their roles in client satisfaction.

Good day. How was your weekend? Today affords us new opportunities to become what we have being desiring to be. So we should not waste it thinking on what could have been yesterday that was not. Today, let us asses what brand success means?

Success is a common word everyone desires. Yet we have different interpretations of what it means. Brand is the authentic license that allows a person to operate in his niche market. Brand is successful when the brand users get accurate perception and memory that makes them come to you again and again. Not only that, brand becomes successful when your audience move from a loyal customer to an advocate of your niche. In other words, they have become members of the family and they feel they own you and know you so much than you know yourself.

That was the major reason why Marion Jones audience was so disappointed in her when she was associated with performance enhancing drug. When your brand becomes successful; you need to be careful because you have become a model, icon that the niche market patterns their lives after.

This requires that one seats down to count the cost of success before embarking on the journey. Brand success has a huge responsibility. The followings are some paths that lead to personal brand success:

1. Great, short, memorable name: choose your name wisely. A long and difficult to pronounce name may not work well. But if you are that good, it can be overlooked. Arnold Schwarzenegger broke this jinx. But from indication, he promoted his first name Arnold.

2. Promise of value: Every brand must have a value, a promise that people can look up to. What is your niche and what service do you offer differently?

3. Expectation/experience: sell good experience. Do not just promise great promise, deliver the right experience. Watch your attitude and character. If the experience does not match, your brand equity will drop, diminishing returns will set in and eventually, there will be no more brand relevance

4. A fan friendly spirit: be approachable, learn to smile, be optimistic and spread the rainbow around.

Developing your personal selling proposition is really important and it is a great idea to cherish. But except you are a professional, you may not get the best out of the process. That is if you are serious about the outcome. Having said this, there are several ways to promote the created personal selling proposition. I will identify some here. Mark you, there are several routes available and the use of all gets the work done faster.

1. Public speaking: people who speak up in publics and have something great to say will always carry the crowd than those who refused to sell themselves through this mean. I have lost several opportunities because of my silence where I need to speak about my personal proposition. I do not do that again today.

2. Great elevator speech: this is one to three paragraphs which capture the essence of your uniqueness. One paragraph elevator speech is great though. I laugh sometimes where I listen to elevator speech that can not lift the owner talk less of the audience. Professional can help you craft this.

3. Dress sense: Always create an impression by what is on you. Men look at the outside. Spend little extra money to enhance your image.

4Online presence: Always watch your online presence. Does it agree with the impression you are creating? Be sure you are there and be adequately represented as well as form right impression.

Perception is the way people, audience see you. Perception can be negative or positive. Your brand may be the greatest with solid promise, but if the experience your audience gets about you does not agree with the intention you are trying to create there can be a whole lot of problem.

Perception management is often define as actions to convey,or deny selected information and indicators to  audiences to influence their emotions, motives, and objective reasoning. Another way we can look at perception mangement is Perception is “a way of considering, understanding or interpreting an idea”. If this is left to chance there is danger. Perceptions have to be continually managed. Relationships have to be built and built to last. Communication strategies need to be put in place. Information must flow. Someone has rightly said “Just because truth has been omitted, does not mean that truth is not true. Just because reality has not been perceived, does not mean that it is not real.”  So it is a prerequisite that every brand ensures that truth is not omitted and wrong doings are not propagated about them.

Our research shows that the followings are essential to effectively manage perception.

1. Visual, identity: people are wired to first notice individual or corporate brands appearance. Our identities, visuals can send mixed feelings about who we are. We all need to manage how we are seen. One of my friends an image consultant-Lolu Mogaji talks of S.H.E factors. This is how you are seen, heard and experience. Manage these to your advantage. Do not handle your identity by yourself except you are a professional or leave it to chances by giving it to a quack.

2. Message/value perception: Is there any value in your value proposition? The promise you crafted, is there any value that the audience can pick. Is your promise egocentric- that which is focused on you and your ability?

3. Project yourself to shatter negative: You need to project yourself as the one that knows your job. This requires expertise. You must do this in a way that your audience will think there is no one like you and working with you is the best thing that can happen to them. This is should be the truth because you are good at what you know how to do.

Our admonition, be good and know how to communicate it.

Here is the second part of our discussion that we started earlier.

1. Concise: This is the ability to have a focus, knowing where you are going. This also refers to brand’s ability to narrow down your niche instead of being a jack of all trade.

2. Connected: it is sheer wasting of time to thing your brand can do everything and that you will not need help. That is the reason we are not wired for isolation. If you need to do everything alone on a 24/365, all you can achieve is what your energy can take. But being connected gives you a competitive advantage to call for help when needed.

3. Compelling: this is work. Nobody says “who are thou’ until you say ‘I am’. The brand needs to be compelling to command market’s attention. To be compelling requires strategy. That calls for a coach who can help you fine-tune and tighten loose ends.

4. Current: I have not seen any brand that has been successful without being current. Ability to have the latest information of your market at your disposal is really, really important. Be current with regards to trends and changes in environment that can affect you. Keep an eye on the competitor too.

5. Commitment: We all know that no success is offer on the platter of gold. Individual must be ready to pay his dues. At the counter of success there is no bargain, prices have to be paid and this must be in advance. Give commitment to your commitment. Be there for the target market.

Today, I want to consider what one of my mentors william Arruda called the C-factors in personal Branding and this also includes Branding at large. It is clear we can not talk about branding without these C-factors. To ignore these factors is to pitch the tent of our brands at failure arena.

1. Clear: Brand needs to be clear of what value its intend to offer. A goal to be attained in the future. This helps to measure success in branding journey.

2. Constant: this a vital tool if the brand will matter at all. Brand can not afford the luxury of having different faces. It must be known for something. This is the brand’s differentiator. Always be known and remain constant in your niche.

3. Consistent: There is a difference between constant and consistent. To be constant is to be known for something, to be consistent is to keep holding the gavel. Be in control and stand for the believe everyday.

4. Correct: Be correct in keeping your promise. Do not give excuses. Produce results that are sync with your promise.

5. Clever: The brand that will be successful needs to be clever. Being clever means to be intelligent, knowledgeable, smart, quick and witty.

When a person does not know but is willing to know, such an individual has set himself up for a brighter future. The worst kind of ignorance is not willing to know what one is supposed to know. Many of us need to wake up to reality of personal branding. Here we will continue our discussion on wrong beliefs and assumptions that have deterred many from pursuing the building a strong personal brand.

1. Its all about Image laundering: This is not the truth. Image is just an aspect of personal branding not all that there is. This kind of wrong belief is like saying that all that is in human body is the heart. We know that this is not so.

2. I am not a celebrity: Like we have established, Personal branding is for everyone. We all have personal brands. Given it a direction, being in control of experiences that your audience get is what make the difference.

3. It’s for job seekers: You do not have to be a job seeker to promote your personal brand. Everyone needs to take care of his own personal health, so is the case with personal branding.

4. It is the fad: Personal branding is not the latest fashion that everyone is trying to get. That is a wrong assumption for not taking care of one’s personal brand. Personal branding or branding at large is as old as the society. In traditional African setting, people asked you whose son or daughter you were before they gave their wards out for marriage. That question points to personal branding attributes. 

Every endeavour that will remain fresh needs constant lubrication so that it does not go stale. There are basic factors that are required to be considered by an individual if the brand must remain fresh in the minds of the target audience. We have noted earlier that being constant, fresh is vital to brand’s relevance. Individual personal brand owner must therefore consider the followings:

 1. Passion: constantly ignite the passion that creates the brand. We have stated that brand must have a goal and vision. It is therefore necessary to constantly oil the wheel of the vision.

 2. Show the way: Ensure you deliver a consistent and memorable appeal in your vision. Always be in the lead in navigating the way for audience.

 3. Promote: Always promote the benefits of your personal brand. This is where many had failed. Many assert that they do not want publicity. Promotion of your personal benefits may not necessarily be attention- seeking project. But your personal brand deserves to earn the credit of its effort.

4. Paint a picture: many may not see where your personal brand is going until you paint a picture for them. Painting a picture starts with right attitude, character, and dress sense etc.

5. Get feedback: Always and I repeat always get feedback from trusted opinion and not praise singers.

6.strengthen positive outlook: No one wants to add added baggage as each person carries their own luggage no matter how rich they may be. Be the brand that bring smile to faces.

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Today we find ourselves in a highly competitive environment and if our brands must be continually relevant, everything must be done deliberately to achieve the purpose we intend to achieve. Our brands are the licence to operate within our market. Always remember that your brand is speaking every minute. Whether you are aware or not. Unfortunately many of us usually forget our brands at home just because we think we are already late for an appointment. Forgeting that every day, every time, an impression is being formed about our personal brands.

No matter how late we are to any event, we must ensure that everything is in congruence with the brand we have created. Deliberate efforts must be given to individual personal grooming as this count in impression formation.

Do not dress like a pauper in need of help: As we all know, it is the day one dresses down as a professional that one will meet someone that one has being longing to meet to push through a deal.

Create a deliberate impression: Know what you intend to achieve before you dress for any occasion. Every occasion demands different appearance. There is a trend today where people wear sunshades to night party where the lighting is not always bright. Such individual is damaging his brand without knowing.

First impression longer lasting. Correcting negative first impression is hard work. it is always very difficult to correct a very negative first impression. Never lose your guard by fighting other motorists on your way to office, be a professional that you are and learn to handle issues professionally.Always remember that you are a brand and you can not afford to build negative impressions that will reduce your brand credits. A great brand has more credits than debits.

Do not bite your fingers in the public: Its is not a good manner for adult to bite finger-nails in the public.