Why Monitoring Your ROX Creates Your Competitive Edge.

Companies/Brands that are not internally aligned end up externally confusing customers and at best stagnation kicks in. The worst case scenario is terminal decline sets in.

For as long as I've been in business I've been fascinated with understanding why we choose one brand over another.

When a customer relates to and aligns with a brand story, things like price, quality, convenience, and even need, come later.

A brand goes far beyond its logo. It’s about how your brand is perceived by your customers. It’s about your brand personality, purpose and values. It’s also your tone of voice, language and key messaging.

People no longer buy products and services, they buy brands with purpose. As?Simon Sinek put it in his 2009 Ted Talk , ‘people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it’.

Have a look at some of the most successful brands;?Apple ,?Thankyou ,?Sukin ,?Amazon ,?Oxfam . All of these brands have products or services almost identical to their competitors, yet people are buying theirs.

When a consumer aligns with your values, they are likely to choose you over a competitor.

Whether it’s their passion for sustainability, equality, community, authenticity or education, or as simple as valuing quality and creativity; these values are a part of their identity and when it comes to making purchasing decisions, people will usually want to uphold those values.

"Values-driven marketing will shift from being product-centric to customer-centric". source Oraco.com

The same goes for the recruitment and retention of employees. Your values are what makes your culture strong.?

As a business owner, you will agree with me that there is nothing more terrifying to a company than losing customers. Investing in a business and having people tell you they have gone with one of your competitor’s brands or products is not an easy pill to swallow.

But have you thought about why you are losing business to your competitors? Or why your customers leave and never return??

When we think about a brand we tend to think in emotional terms.

This is because a brand isn't real, it's an intangible thing that we can either relate to or not, if it's the latter it's an extremely big challenge for a brand to sway you towards them.

Those companies we deem as successful operate an agile mindset when it comes to the 'operating model' which is how they sustain and build growth.

The really great ones are constantly playing the equivalent of business war games scenarios with their leadership teams. Unfortunately these don't always include 'change makers' from further down the management ladder.

A business (operating) model is designed to help a company build a competitive advantage and starts out as an internalised view.

“People with a growth mindset seek opportunities to learn, gain new skills, and enhance their existing skills.” - Carol Dweck.

A business (operating) model is designed to help a company build a competitive advantage and starts out as an internalised view.

A ‘Value proposition’ describes the collective benefits customers receive from using a product or service compared to a competitor and if successful over time becomes a consumer centric reinforced externally held view.

The value the customer perceives and is aligned to this the greater the chance he/she/they will choose to make a purchase with you versus a competitor.

Brand loyalty is positive feelings towards a brand and dedication to purchase the same product or service repeatedly now and in the future from the same brand, regardless of a competitor’s actions or changes in the environment.

Car ownership is a great example of this. I know many people who have stayed loyal to one car brand for decades and never consider changing. source Neworld.com

Customer Service vs Customer Experience.

Consumers today are sophisticated and do their research before making a purchase. They expect to have a seamless and positive experience and, if those expectations aren’t met, consumers know they have options. source Medallia.com

For companies looking to create a competitive edge, having a strong brand recognition, or even a stellar product isn’t enough. Customer experience is the tipping point, and without a strong plan to create and maintain a positive experience, businesses will lose out.

You will know if you have weak customer experience because you will have a growing customer service team. A great 'customer experience' increases value and lowers your cost of acquisition something we call ROX 'return on experience'

In my experience stagnation and decline surfaces internally on the balance sheet as a huge wake up call that something isn't working as it used to.

However the rot starts months/years before this.

Losing sight of the ‘value proposition’ is one of the core reasons I often find for stagnation or decline in a business or brand, and not realigning the 'operating model' to this early enough often delivers the killer blow.

So as the economic outlook becomes even greater a challenge than during Covid should retailers be looking to adapt to changes in their value proposition?

Without historical precedent, strategic risks are immune to traditional risk management methods. Intent and sentiment are powerful currencies in our real and digital social worlds.

Subconsciously it's how we filter out those people who are false and those who consistently live up to what they say and do, above all they help us to better understand if we can relate to them or not.

Most organisations are based on an old order meritocracy of 'command and control' which no longer fits into the new world order of things. The bigger the company the bigger the bias towards managing risk (averse) instead of recognising that command and control are simply 20th Century outdated methods of management.

You probably already believe that developing an “outcome-based culture” is better than relying on the old “command-and-control” management style, if the goal is maximizing the time and talent in your organisation.

Research from the Gallup organisation confirms this. According to?Gallup , “Leaders who adopt an outcome-based approach ensure that neither the time nor talent of their workforce is wasted.”

An outcome-based culture allows your team to enjoy autonomy while utilizing their individual talents and discretionary effort to deliver the outcomes you have agreed upon as a team.

It also allows you as the leader to invest your time coaching your team, rather than trying to control them or doing the jobs you hired them to perform.

Does this now mean that for business to climb its way out of yet another historic crisis that leaders need to listen to the internal and external view before they leap into short term cost cutting exercises?

Recognising and dealing with strategic risks requires us to look past the most pressing “here and now” challenges to anticipate encroaching disruptions that are further away and harder to spot.