Best Practices

As the most important customer-facing employees, salespeople
can drive brand perceptions by:

Understanding Customer Perceptions

What is the past, present, and future of brand strategy? How has
the company changed over time? How have customer perceptions
about the company changed over its history?

Internalizing the Company’s Core Values

What are the company’s core values? What are the enduring beliefs
that drive all activities and behaviors and result in customers’ per-
ceptions of what the company stands for? Which are most impor-
tant to sustaining and growing the company’s reputation?

Understanding Major Customer Segments

Which groups of customers does the company sell to? What is the
same and what is different about each of the groups? What does
each group care most about? What is the “hot button” for each
group? How does each customer group view its key challenges,
the tangible and emotional benefits of working with you, and the
nature of the relationship with your company? How do different
customer segments perceive the brand? How does the company
communicate differently with each of them?

Organize Your Brand around the Customer

73

FIGURE 9.1

The philosophy of great brands.