Many organisations simply examine the sales forecasts and cut spending across the board during a period of economic slowdown without considering how these cuts will impact on communication. Companies that do not ‘speak’ to their customers during recession times disengage them and find themselves vulnerable once the economy has regained momentum.

When your customers choose to spend the fewer dollars they have, you want them to choose your organisation not your competitors. The process of acquiring new customers is more costly than retaining existing ones, so it is of upmost importance that you hold on to your existing customers in a stagnant market.

It is well documented the impact employees can have on a customer’s experience with a company. In these tough economic times you need to be even more in tune to your customer’s needs and the ‘moment of truth’ brand experiences your company has with your customer’s everyday.

To differentiate your customer experience from that of your competitors in the current economic climate, consider the following:

* Vigilantly focus on customer needs – in a changing economy, a customer’s basic needs don’t disappear, but priorities can shift and you need to look for creative and innovative ways to satisfy those needs. It is more important than ever to know what is going on in the lives of your important customers and how you can better assist their business.

• Reinforce your brand attributes at every interaction – It’s important to remember that in a risk-adverse climate customers cling even stronger to the brand in which they are most familiar. Your brand attributes are a framework for your business decisions and interactions with our customers. Remind customers of why they should choose your brand at every interaction and opportunity.
• Communicate frequently – the pace of decision making can pick up when the economy slows so get information from the front lines to operating people as quickly as possible and keep customers informed.
• Look for more ways to deliver best value to our customers – think outside the square, work smarter with reduced budgets and look for new ways to provide more value for less expense.

Current and prospective customers are still forming opinions and gathering experiences regardless of whether you are proactively managing your brand or not. Believe it on not recessions actually provide exceptional opportunities to improve your strategic position.

Tips to consider:

• Communication to your people is a must – Employee communication is often the first to get the axe in budget cuts. In current times, employees are anxious, fearful of losing their jobs and rumours are often rife within the company about potential plans. Use frequent communication and two-way leader meetings to ‘out’ rumours and re focus employees on the job at hand. Provide frequent updates on the company intranet and employee newsletters to help restore stability, productivity and engagement.
• Engage CEO’s to cement loyalty – knowing senior leaders are there to lead through uncertain economic times is crucial to employees. Leaders should be visible, credible, passionate and should focus on reinforcing core brand values. Loyalty of employees can be cemented by assuring employees that the company has survived difficult times in the past, it will be maintaining quality rather than cutting corners and focusing on serving existing customers.
• Use your employer brand to recruit top tier talent – the image of security and sustainability during recession times can be major drawcard in getting the best people to work for you. View this market slowdown as an opportunity to secure top talent who may now be enticed to move. Be clear about your Employment Value Propositions (EVP’s) and compelling reasons to work for your organisation.

As John Quelch, Professor Harvard Business School has stated “Successful companies do not abandon their marketing strategies in a recession; they adapt them.” The same applies for your employer brand and as many companies will remember from previous recessionary times, it is a long, difficult and costly journey to rebuild a talented workforce.

The Right Group is a leading consultancy in the development and implementation of employer brands.

Download our WeatherVANE™ brochure.

Our first seminar in Singapore will be facilitated by The Right Group’s Managing Director, Mr David Kent. David is widely regarded as one of Australasia’s leading brand strategists, with distinct competencies in brand strategy, change management and people and culture.

David will focus on the unquestionable link between talent and brand and the power that a strong company brand can wield when it comes to attracting and retaining the best talent.

The one day seminar will enable participants to identify practical and effective strategies for employee attraction, engagement and retention. David will highlight the ‘best practises’ of world class organisations. Participants will be provided with tools enabling them to measure the current status of their own organisations, identify gaps and develop strategies to address any shortfalls.

The seminar brochure, providing a full course outline and registration form can be downloaded here.

David Kent, Managing Director, of The Right Group says “the interest in both our consulting and training services is testimony to our firm’s expertise and the quality of our people. The Right Group’s methodologies and proprietary processes in linking business strategy with brand strategy are international best practice, and allow us to compete in any market. SE Asian companies are keen to adopt best practice across brand strategy, internal communications, people and culture as critical building blocks to realising their business vision and commercial objectives. We are actively pursuing significant opportunities that have been presented to us, including change management and communication programs for companies in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore”.

The Right Group will be conducting a series of two-day seminars on Internal Branding and Talent Retention in Kuala Lumpur 27th & 28th August, 2007, Singapore 29th & 30th August, 2007 and Bangkok 24th & 25th September, 2007.

www.iqpctraining.com.sg

The Hewitt Best Employers of 2006/07, www.bestemployersanz.com sponsored by Boss magazine and AGSM, announced FedEx Express (NZ) and Salesforce as joint winners. Highly commended were Bain & Company, Cisco Systems, Medtronics Australasia, SEEK Limited, Vedior Asia Pacific and Westaff. These companies all display consistent characteristics; they are more focused on their customers and doing what it takes to satisfy their needs; and they take a considered and thoughtful approach to developing and managing leaders. Leaders who are trusted are seen as more effective and better able to rally their people around business strategies and goals. They spend time and resources building and developing the capability of their employees, and they are clear about what they stand for as employers, delivering on those promises, and so they differentiate themselves as Hewitt Best Employers.

In the context of attracting, recruiting and retaining talent to an organisation, the organisation must look at developing a strong employer brand that is employment specific and reflects the components of the corporate brand. To assist companies in developing their employer brand and Employee Value Proposition, The Right Group has developed its own proprietary tool.

Download our TalentMAGNET™ PDF brochure now.

The conference will be attended by senior level delegates from some of Asia’s leading companies sharing their expertise and best practice in corporate communications. Our sponsorship and attendance is evidence of our commitment to thought leadership and to being the best brand consultancy in the region, recognised for building powerful brands and communications for our clients.

www.iqpc.com.sg/AS-3589

Therefore it was a logical move for us to open an office in Singapore, to take advantage of the commercial opportunities being presented. The office will be officially opened on 30 March, 2007.

28 Maxwell Road,
# 03-05, Red Dot Building, Singapore 069120

Current thinking suggests that rather than focus on developing an employment brand, company’s needs to think about developing an Employee Value Proposition (EVP). EVP is an accurate way of describing the perception of an organisation as an employer. For most companies EVP = Employer Brand; only in a few instances where the public perception of a company as an employer is different to your brand will the two not equate. For example, some FMCG’s where branding tends to be around products not the company.

The real value of employment branding can be realised through employee engagement. This is about getting employees who buy into delivering your brand promise engaged. Realistically we don’t want everyone to want to work for us, we just want those who really believe in what we want to achieve. They’re the ones who delight customers, who go the extra mile, who are walking the talk.

“The Right Group has assisted in other areas of our business but it was their pragmatic and thorough approach combined with their experience in brand strategy development, which were very important considerations in our selection”. Graeme Downing, General Manager Sales & Marketing, Blackwoods

www.blackwoods.com.au