Corporate reputation: Walking the talk
L Biff Motley
741 words
ABA Bank Marketing
42
Volume 35, Issue 5; ISSN: 1539-7890
English
Copyright (c) 2003 ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights reserved.
Copyright Bank Marketing Association Jun 2003
Harris Interactive Research, in conjunction with the Reputation
Institute of
The survey, based on online input from over 20,000 people, scored
the largest 100 companies on 20 attributes that combine to produce an overall
"trustworthy" score made up of both positives (such as sincere,
honest, informative) and negatives (such as deceptive, secretive and self
serving). Companies at the top of the list include Johnson & Johnson,
Harley-Davidson, Coca-Cola, UPS and General Mills. Companies at the bottom,
include, as you might expect, Enron, Global Crossing, Worldcom, Anderson and
Adelphia. In addition to these ignominious cases, however, near-bottom dwellers
also include companies like Ford-whose slogan, "Quality is Job One,"
customers find insulting when they repeatedly find quality problems with their
cars-and AOL Time Warner, which is constantly irritating its online customer
base with glitches and goofs.
Live up to your promises
The study goes on to explain that "trust" is an emotion,
not an objective attribute like "price" or "convenience,"
and that people want to do business with companies whom they trust. In a
certain sense people "join" companies and attach themselves to the
image of companies they admire. Companies that are sincere, honest and live up
to their promises or explain why they fall short in a believable way are
considered trustworthy. One respondent explained, "I absolutely love
Harley-Davidson because they stand behind what they say," in reference to
their promises in ads and warranties. Another respondent, speaking about
Johnson & Johnson, said, "Their ads are honest; they don't talk down
to me; and they understand that we consumers have brains, too."
Companies that try to shift the blame or who apologize in
insincere ways can cause more harm than good. In a recent advertising campaign,
Worldcom has tried to restore its reputation by suggesting what a shame it is
for consumers to blame a whole company for the misdeeds of a few. This approach
did not play well with poll respondents, who scored Worldcom poorly. One
respondent said, "It has to be a truly heartfelt apology or else it's seen
as just a self-serving way to get out of a tough spot." One might expect
that Martha Stewart could have avoided many of her problems had she just
acknowledged her mistake and apologized.
How well do you recover from mistakes?
Fortunately, bankers escaped much of the fallout from Enron, et
al. But there are important lessons to learn. First, "trust" is
absolutely essential in any business-but especially ours-since confidence is
the basis of what we are selling. Second, trust is an emotional condition,
which is influenced by everything you do, but especially how you recover from a
mistake. Errors are inevitable, but quick and honest recovery is essential. It
is powerful to say to a client, "I am sorry, we made a mistake; and here
is how we are going to fix it." Virtually all of the banks that
participate in the ABA ClientSatisfaction Survey (www.clientsatisfaction.com) have found that the attribute
"correcting errors promptly" receives high scores from customers.
What's critical also is how you acknowledge the error or shortcoming.
If you tell your clients through word and deed that you are
honest, sincere and forthright, and you back it up with action, especially when
a mistake has occurred, then you are "walking the talk" and will be
rewarded with continued patronage. If, on the other hand, you slip-slide,
flip-flop, over-promise and under-deliver, you are bound to disappoint and be
faced with the difficult proposition of finding new customers just to stay
even.
L. Biff Motley is Senior Vice President Retail Banking and
Marketing, Whitney Bank,
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Fortunately, bankers escaped much of the fallout from Enron, et
al. But there are important lessons to learn