Reviving an Unloved Brand

Welcome to the Executive Eye, where we share the latest insights into how the Financial Services profession is continuously evolving and adapting to the dynamic business landscape. We hope you enjoy it!

Read our latest edition below.

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A prominent example of an unloved brand that was successfully turned around is Apple Inc. in the late 1990s. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, the company was struggling with significant financial losses, a tarnished public image, and a lack of direction. Once a pioneer in the personal computer industry, the brand had become nearly irrelevant in the market, overshadowed by competitors like Microsoft.

Upon his return, Jobs implemented several strategic changes that revitalised Apple’s brand and repositioned it as a leader in innovation. His efforts saved Apple from bankruptcy and helped it emerge as a tech giant known for its innovation, design, and premium products. Apple's turnaround under Steve Jobs' leadership is a testament to how focused leadership, clear vision, and innovative branding can rejuvenate a struggling brand.

We all know of Financial Services companies that have earned a bad reputation due to certain circumstances and find themselves in a situation where no one wants to work for them. The only way to improve their name is to bring in a new leadership team, so it presents a catch-22 situation!

We have considerable experience working with companies whose brand impacts their ability to attract top talent, and the following points will help those who find themselves in that situation.

1.?????? Bring in the right people – it’s not for the faint-hearted!

As I mentioned earlier, the right leadership needs to be in place if you are to turn around a bad reputation or persuade people to work somewhere which is not seen as a good place to work. You need to be open with the individuals you are interviewing. They need to understand their challenges and be willing to rise to the challenge. Don't pretend you're something you're not. No employer is perfect, and no employer is totally beyond redemption. Hiding the truth from someone will come back to haunt you later when they join the company, and if it's not what they expected, you may face the problem that they choose to leave quickly. Hire someone resilient. Possibly hire someone on a long-term contract so they have the motivation to stay because you might need someone different once the business has settled down and it’s business as usual.

?2.?????? Create a New Employer Story

Once the problem is fully identified, you must create a new employer story. This needs to be honest. It should explain what has happened with the company and what's gone wrong, and most importantly, what you want to happen in the future and how your new employee will contribute. It’s important to listen to what they say. If they're the right person, they'll have experience in changing the culture in a company, and their ideas count. If someone is to join you and instigate this change, they must know the company has their back. They will recognise they will encounter considerable resistance to the change, and if they don't have their boss's support, they won't succeed.

?3.?????? Pay the Right Salary

When hiring the right individual, you must pay the right salary. More importantly, you'll probably need to provide them with some sort of financial incentive to finish the job. We all see companies where people move on very quickly, and that can cause even more concern for future employees. So, this is an important appointment to get right.

??4.?????? A Choice of Good Candidates

Ensure you have a choice of several high-quality candidates. You'll need to take time to get to know each of them, and you'll need to be honest about the challenge at hand. Don't just focus on people available in the market. Look for people who will need some persuasion and are already doing a good job elsewhere. The best way to achieve this is through an executive search firm that will already have the right connections but, more importantly, will be able to approach potential candidates confidentially, giving them time to explain the employer brand and the challenge to them. Direct approaches by your company in your name are unlikely to be successful with the type of people you want to attract.

?5.?????? Creating a Positive Candidate Experience

Creating a positive candidate experience is essential to success and cannot be rushed.?

You must have a clearly defined candidate specification, and your recruiter or headhunter needs to be briefed thoroughly to ensure they fully understand what you are trying to achieve, the challenges you face, and, most importantly, your company's positives.

?This is the process that we follow at Paul Harper Search:

1.??? Our researchers will contact an individual to determine whether they are open to moving. They'll also try to establish a level of suitability for the role without getting too detailed.

2.??? The second call will be with a senior consultant who's an expert in the market and probably already known by many people in the market. At the very least, they're likely to know people in common with the person being headhunted. That consultant will check all the facts to ensure the individual is suitable and potentially interested.

3.??? The third meeting is the formal meeting when your employer's brand will be disclosed. By this time, the potential candidate will trust the consultant and be willing to open up about their motivation, needs, skills, and experience. At the stage when the employer brand is disclosed, we'll have plenty of time to explain the good and the bad. We can give the employer brand its story and ensure the candidate can make a reasonable decision about whether they're interested. Because of the earlier approach of trust and exploration, we will be 90% certain the candidate will be willing to proceed before this meeting. That has the advantage that your employer brand remains secret to all but those interested in proceeding, and therefore, you look less desperate.

The process from here is straightforward. We want to make sure that our candidate, we gather all the necessary information about our candidate, including taking personal references to ensure that we know we're representing someone good at what they do and hopefully will fit in well with your company. As an employer with a toxic or unloved brand, you'll now be in a position where you're likely to have a strong candidate, hopefully, two or three, who are all suitable and interested. However, it doesn't end there; once the new employee starts, work will need to be done to change the culture of the company.

?6.?????? Managing Change

There will clearly need to be changes to the company, which the new individual will need to make. They'll need to know they have the company's full support and will be supported when resistance is hit within the company. We've all seen times in sports where a new manager goes in and fails and ultimately upsets the team.? In this case, they use the term ‘lost the dressing room’. They can then go to another club where they can be very successful. This is often to do with culture; only a highly resilient manager can cope with these pressures. The same is true in business. That's why several change agents operate on a contract basis rather than permanently.

Do you have what it takes to turn around a company?

Does the idea of turning around a company with a toxic brand excite you? If you have the skills and experience of change management, we would always welcome a chat with you.

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If you would like to know more about our M&A, Recruitment and Consultancy ?Services, feel free to personal message me or contact me via our website, where you can book a call at?www.paulharpersearch.co.uk, message me here on LinkedIn or call me on 07768 952212

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