Branding: you can’t build your company on a foundation of false assumptions
There is growing understanding of the need to delight customers who now have more options than ever before,to take their business elsewhere. Successful executives have gone beyond traditional customer service slogans and rhetoric—expanding their focus to include the entire “partner chain”.They understand that in order to delight customers, they must meet the ongoing needs of each contributing link.
Links in the Partner Chain are:
- The customer
- The Funding partners (debt and equity)
- The External partners (suppliers, distributors, and contractors)
- The Internal partners (employees, supervisors, managers, and executives)
If partner needs go unmet, the flow of human and financial capital will be disrupted, and without investment…there’s litte hope of staying in business, let alone keeping up with service demands. In our fast-paced world, people from every link in the partner chain must be called upon to influence and inspire each other–but chains are only as strong as the weakest link. Rigid structure and exclusive ownership are giving way to the formation of strong strategic alliances. This shift introduces the need for new skills to accommodate the forming, managing, and disbanding of transient teams. These and other market forces are transforming the role of people traditionally thought of as followers. Everybody must step up and take the lead because in our turbulent world, even the best plans, processes, and policies will not be enough.
In the “shift-age”…LEADERSHIP IS EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS.