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Why Experience-Based Brand Differentiation?
It's the new buzz word but is it all just a bunch of hype? Not at all. In this economy, if your service levels don't match the message you are relaying to your customers about your brand, you might be in big trouble.
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Building Your Business and Your Brand by Thinking Outside of the Box
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Issue 2, April 2009 |
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Why Experience-Based Brand Differentiation?
It's the new buzz word but is it all just a bunch of hype?
Not at all. In this economy, if your service levels don't match the message you are relaying to your customers about your brand, you might be in big trouble.
by: Dr. David Hyatt, President and Partner
In our last newsletter, we presented ideas on how you can be earning customer loyalty through crafting compelling experiences. In this issue, we are continuing to explore this same theme, with an emphasis on brand differentiation. What is brand differentiation? We define it as the elements of the customer experience that create space or distance between you and your competitors. Call it competitive advantage if you like, but in a nutshell it's what makes you different. The challenge for all organizations with a great new idea is that every one of your competitors will see your success and want to figure out how they can capitalize on it. (The first mover is quickly followed by a horde of second movers if the first mover is making money!) As a result, it becomes imperative to continue to evolve your brand to stay ahead of (or continue to differentiate yourself from) your competition. The critical component here is to evolve from your core brand position, not by chasing fads. This requires answers to the following questions: Who are we? What do we want to mean to our consumers? What do we want our customer experience to be? And, most importantly, how will we deliver it? Of course, once you have the answers to these questions, the operations piece comes into play: staffing your organization with people who can consistently deliver the intended customer experience, consistently communicating the answers to these questions throughout the entire organization, creating processes and procedures that support the answers to your questions, and continuing to evolve the operations of the organization to fit the evolution of your brand. For an example of an organization that understands the importance of this, look to our section on Morgans Hotel Group.
The key message I want to leave with you is this: experience-based brand differentiation can only be achieved by strong, consistent delivery. The thing you must always remember is that your brand is shaped by every interaction your customers have with your business. If your customers, by chance, experience a "disconnect" in the level of service provided by your people, it can be costly. Having the processes and the right people in place will enable your organization to secure the strong emotional ties you need to have with your customers. Harnessing the power of brand delivery in this way will allow your organization to capitalize on the customers' emotional bond with your business, resulting in greater loyalty and financial gains for your organization.
So Many Applicants, So Little Time...
With unemployment on the rise, you may suddenly find yourself with a pile of applications in front of you and are asking yourself, "How can I efficiently determine who will be the best?"
by: Dr. Brian Frost, Lead Assessment Development Manager
With the national unemployment rate currently at 8.5 percent and rising, applications for positions in the service industry are increasing at an alarming rate. For instance, a new store opening for Dick's Sporting Goods in Canton, Georgia drew over 1,000 applicants for the management job postings. Raising Cane's, a quick service restaurant chain, recently received over 10,000 applications for 27 openings. With so many applicants and so little time, finding the right talent for your business can be a difficult task, and with every customer interaction more crucial than ever, the implications of hiring the wrong candidate for your business dramatically increases.
In the service industry, employees in front-line positions are the face of your business to your customers, and the decision of which applicant to hire to best represent that business is critical and makes all the difference in gaining customer loyalty. However, in today's difficult job market, many recruiters and hiring managers are spending valuable work hours screening hundreds of job applicants who are highly unlikely to fit the job and your work environment, stay with your company, and deliver the type of memorable customer experience that differentiates your business from your competition. Your managers need a way to save time and focus energy on evaluating only those candidates who are highly likely to make that critical difference for your business.
As a proactive response to this increased number of applicants, many companies are turning to pre-employment screening as a way to save time and money and to weed out the candidates unable to deliver their intended customer experience early in the hiring process. The first level of screening is typically an online application tool that automatically removes candidates from the hiring process who do not meet minimum qualifications for scheduling flexibility, pay needs, work experience, and any other required factors. Depending on the factors screened, this step alone can eliminate up to 50 percent of your applicants, without the hiring manager spending any of his or her valuable time.
To further reduce the pool, an automated application screen is often followed by pre-employment assessments that evaluate technical skills, personality characteristics, cognitive ability, and general attitudes that are necessary for success in the prospective position. Some assessments even go a step further and screen out candidates who would not be able to deliver the kind of customer experience that differentiates your brand. These pre-employment assessments typically screen out another 20 percent of applicants. Another great benefit pre-employment testing offers is that it can generally weed out unmotivated candidates. A 2001 survey conducted by Valenti Staffing Partners found that 18 percent of applicants selected themselves out of a hiring process solely based on the knowledge that there were pre-employment assessments included in the hiring process.
So, you may be wondering, "How much time can really be saved by using pre-employment testing?" Let's say a hiring manager receives 200 applications. An automated application screen can reduce that number to 100. Add pre-employment assessments to that process and the number is now reduced to roughly 65. That is 135 less applications to review and candidates to interview who will likely not be qualified for the position and will most likely not represent your company in the manner that you expect. Now, if you consider that the average time spent screening for an opening (this includes application, initial interviews, and any reference checks) is one hour per candidate, that is 135 hours of the hiring manager's time saved. And, through pre-employment assessments, you have identified 65 great candidates who are worth evaluating further!
If you are facing a pile of applications and need an efficient system to save you time and help you identify the candidates who will differentiate your business, online pre-employment assessments that evaluate the factors critical to the success of your business are an ideal solution.
Linking Valid Assessments and Consistent Brand Delivery
Using job-related, valid hiring assessments will ensure you are able to hire the right people to represent your brand.
by: Dr. Leanne Buehler, Product Manager Consistent brand delivery starts with having the right people in place who can deliver your intended brand to your customers. Incorporating assessments that identify people who can and will deliver your brand is one key way to ensure you are hiring brand-focused people from the start. But how do you ensure the assessments you are using will actually help hire the right people?
First, it is important to confirm that the tests you are using are designed to measure the skills required for effective performance on the job. For example, if part of your brand is to deliver extraordinary customer service, using an assessment designed to measure customer service skills would be a valuable addition to your hiring process for customer-facing positions.
Second, you need to know if your test is effective at predicting levels of customer service. This is where test validity comes in. Validity refers to the degree to which an assessment measures what it is supposed to measure. In other words, if the test vendor claims that the assessment measures customer service, ask for validity evidence that demonstrates that it actually does. Evidence of a relationship between how well someone does on the test and how well he or she will perform on the job demonstrates that the test is predictive of performance. In other words, people who do better on the test should perform better on the job.
To learn about whether or not a test is valid for your particular hiring needs, ask your test publisher for validity evidence. Not only will this ensure that the test is measuring what it is supposed to, but it will also make sure you are applying and interpreting the results in an appropriate and fair manner. Using job-related, validated assessments is the best way to make sure that the tests you are using will help you effectively hire employees who will consistently deliver your intended brand experience.
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Visit Corvirtus on the web:
www.Corvirtus.com
www.PFRondemand.com
Corvirtus at
NRA Show 2009!
Be sure to stop by the Corvirtus booth and speak with our experts about the best practices to help your organization hire, develop, and retain employees that will ensure your customers have a memorable experience every time.
National Restaurant Association Show
McCormick Place
Chicago, IL
May 16-19, 2009
Visit Corvirtus at
Booth #3212
Whitepaper Download
Moving Beyond the Basics:
Brand Delivery through Brand Focused Hiring
Discover how your company can deliver a Branded Customer Experience and ensure Brand Integrity through the different channels of your business by hiring the right talent.
CLICK HERE
to download this whitepaper.
Spotlight on:
Morgans
Hotel Group
www.morganshotelgroup.com
Since introducing its first boutique hotel in 1984, Morgans Hotel Group has been known for offering unique guest experiences through personalized service and elegance. With its keen focus on the customer, Morgans has grown into the premier luxury boutique hotel company, with well-known brands such as Delano in Miami, Sanderson in London, and Mondrian in Los Angeles. A large part of Morgans’ success relies on its employees and EDGE – that is, providing “Engaging Dynamic Guest Experiences” each and every time. At Morgans, an important part of new employee on-boarding involves a program of the same name in which each employee learns the vital ways to convey the excitement and glamour that Morgans hotels are known for through providing one-of-a-kind service.
EDGE is just one way in which Morgans has maintained its legendary service. As a leader in the hospitality industry, Morgans is constantly redefining ways in which it can improve the guest experience. Corvirtus has partnered with Morgans to reinvigorate EDGE. Through our partnership and redevelopment of this important program, Morgans will ensure their employees are able to deliver the style, sophistication, and charm that are signature of a Morgans’ guest experience.
Can My Employees Develop a Passion for Service?
Many HR Managers and Recruiters often ask us, "Is passion for service something that can be trained?" The simple answer unfortunately is, no.
Having a desire to be of service to others is part of who a person is, you either enjoy being of service to others or you don’t. Although it’s tough to train someone to love delivering great service, it is still important to support service-driven behaviors through training, reward and recognition, and performance management practices. Doing so will allow employees with a natural propensity for delivering great service to thrive and flourish.
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