A high-quality service keeps haulage customers coming back but presenting
Page 49
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
the right image can make the difference that clinches a deal in the first place.
Many people were shocked when BT spent tens of millions of pounds changing its logo and corporate identity. It seemed a waste of money. But a clear corporate image has many advantages. It can increase customer loyalty; create brand value; help you to maintain a premium pricing policy; and ensure that your company is seen as a reliable supplier for repeat orders. And all this should have a beneficial effect on your bottom line.
And corporate identity has an impact on the people who work for the company. Staff who work for a transport company with a good image are more likely to feel pride in their employer and their work; and they are likely to take on responsibility for keeping that image clean.
Where do you start if you want to build or renew your corporate image? First think about the core value of the business. What is the single most important thing for you?
As an operator do you want to be thought of as a general haulier? Or contract distribution specialist, international operator, or removals company? Do you do local work or cover the country? There's no point proclaiming that your two-strong vehicle fleet is engaged in "nationwide logistics" if you've never been north of Watford.
One company might choose premium service for its core value; another value for money. One company might choose friendliness and approachability as its core value; another might offer more style and choice of service. Each company will need to pick a corporate image that complements its core value, and doesn't contradict it.
Can you choose more than one core value? If you do, you are trying to say more than one thing at the same time and it will confuse your customers and staff. So your decision here is crucial. Make sure, too, that you pick an image you want to be associated with in the long term; trying to change it again will be costly and counter-productive.
A further dimension you need to consider is that it must be realistic for you to maintain that image with the resources you have. If you have poorly trained people, don't try to claim high service standards. If you operate from a small office on a local industrial estate, don't try to look like a huge national business. You shouldn't really see this part of the project as choosing a core value, as much as finding out the value that has always been there. [fit doesn't feel right—it isn't.
Once you've made your decision, it's time to plan how you're going to build that image. It's not a simple matter of redesigning your livery and hoping for the best; everything has to fit. Anything that doesn't will stick out like a sore thumb.
So to make sure everything has been considered, a checklist of the four Ps is useful— print, premises, people, publicity
This is the obvious place to start. It covers your livery, logo, the typeface you use, colour, paper, layout of advertisements and catalogues. Customers should be able to tell that a communication comes from your organisation just by looking at it.
Make sure the message is right. If you want to look fashionable, make sure your typography doesn't look dated. If you want to look respectable, don't pick dayglo orange as your corporate colour. Colours are particularly important as the message they give is very strong but almost subliminal; red stands for energy, as well as for danger; dark green communicates respectability and dependability When you're managing this part of the project get professional help; don't manage alone.
A designer with experience will cover things you probably never thought about. The quality of paper is important; a heavy, cream paper speaks of luxury and tradition, whereas a thin glossy paper might be more appropriate for a go-ahead firm. You also need to think about what kind of printed communications you are going to send out; what's right for personal communications might not work so well for catalogues or brochures.
• Premises
Many firms' premises contradict their external corporate image. If the showroom of a firm that advertises prominently in local papers as "the quality option" is generally littered with old coffee cups, unemp tied ashtrays, and badly written notes stuck on the walls with peeling sellotape, it contradicts the image being sold in the press.
Did you establish a colour as part of your "print" sec tion? If so, than you should try to use it in yo premises.
• People
This P is most important. When mar companies think about corporate image th miss this one out. Make sure your peoy know what the core value really means ai act, dress, and talk, accordingly. Unless yo employees believe in your core value, yo image-building exercise is just not going work.
If you tell your customers how your comy ny prides itself on having the best employe in its field it unfortunate if all the staff lux that they were getting paid well below t market rate. Make sure that if you're prom( ing service, your staff are trained and pa sufficiently to offer it.
There are pros and cons to the issue of a porate uniform. It does make it easier to pr mote your image coherently, and f installation staff and engineers, it often loo smarter than jeans and T-shirt. But sor employees will not want to wear it; and it prove a diversion from the task of makii sure your people act the core value, not jc look like it. Which would you rather have you have to have one or the other)--a smart dressed driver or a helpful one?
• Publicity
Everything the company does should refit the core value. That includes publicii Consider sponsorship, for example; "friendly" company might get involved children's charities, whereas a "stylish" o might sponsor opera or showjumping. company that prides itself on its mode approach would trumpet its e-mail numb its new computer system, and its manage getting MBAs; a company proud of i traditional approach would stress tl craftsmanship of its staff. But you won't p it on the door of your wagon.
Finally, make sure your image is univers ly adopted. Don't try to use up the old st tionery in order to save money. Don't miss o any of the four Ps. And don't let any of yo managers think that their departments can exceptions from the rule. What your custom sees must be a single image, strong and cle from everything you say and do.
by Andrea Kirkby