$10,000,000 Lost Over Employee Brand
Within the past month, I have had the opportunity to witness the real cost of not training your company employees on the importance of representing the Brand of the company with their own Professional and Personal Brand. I am blessed to have the privilege of serving some of the country’s most financially secure individuals, and while meeting with such a client, I was privileged to see and hear a conversation that had drastic implications for one financial institution and great benefit for another. I asked my client if I could share the story without names and here it is!
This particular client was not happy with his current financial advisor and was in the process of looking for another company to assist him with the management of his wealth. He told me he had a quick phone call to make before we started our work together that day it happened to be with his lawyer and his accountant. He asked them for their recommendations on the final two firms he had chosen to start a professional relationship with. Quite honestly, both firms are well known and came with a slew of recommendations, write-ups and referrals. My client’s accountant recommended firm “A” because they had a long history of performance, were well represented around the world and offered all of the services that my client wanted. The lawyer had an ongoing relationship with firm “B,” and he could personally provide an introduction to the top money representative at the firm which he seemed to trust.
About a week later I returned to continue my client’s goals to create the best Professional and Personal Image that we could for him through fashion, etiquette and Internet Branding. As we began, he asked me if I recalled the conversations he had with his advisors at our last meeting. He commented that he met with several individuals over lunch with both firms and that he had chosen Firm “A.” He said that the comments he and I had shared about the value of one’s Professional Brand and the company they represented played a significant role in that choice.
He explained that the firm he had not chosen had attended the luncheon with representatives who were sloppy in their dress habits. Unfortunately, he listed a multitude of details that he was paying attention to per our conversation. Shirts that did not fit, shoes that were dirty, hair that was not neat and dresses that were less than professional. He also noticed the way they greeted their servers and the hostess, along with their manners at the table. Finally, he said the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back was their rudeness toward one another as he did not feel that they had respect for each other as they interrupted one another throughout the meeting. He shared with me that he was not only looking for a company that had the current winners representing them, but said he was looking for stability, respect, integrity and any firm that allowed their brand to be tarnished by ill prepared and improperly trained representatives was not the company he wanted taking care of the details associated with his family and his business future.
We have talked about the importance of looking beyond the numbers and allowing the image and behavior of the people being interviewed to be the guide as to the type of service they will provide. We’ve known each other going on at least five years now and I have developed a great friendship with him and his beautiful family. I knew I would want to share this perfect example with other businesses and clients so I asked him how large the account was that he was transferring to the new financial advisor. In his own wonderfully sarcastic and very straight forward way, he said that shoes, clothes, fashion and manners just cost the other firm $10,000,000.
Brand is not something;’ it is everything to a company’s success. After I left his office, I was thankful that I could help a client in a manner that had nothing to do with fashion and style alone, but rather with his view on life and the pursuit of excellence in all he does and all who will help him reach his goals.
MODA is in the business of helping individuals define their Professional, Personal and Internet Brands. We guide companies to create an atmosphere of Excellence and ensure that money spent in creating a brand is properly communicated to the company employee as well as the customer. Call MODA if we can help you or your business create the best Brand for success.
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Image | Brand | Fashion
Mila@modaimageconsulting.com | www.ModaImageConsulting.com
Direct: (615) 218.6831 | Office: (615) 567.6969
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