Delivering standout brand experiences

Have you read the book "Uncommon Practice: people who deliver a great brand experience"? It highlights how and why some companies deliver standout customer experiences.

Experiences that many of their competitors could choose to deliver, but don't.

Standout customer experiences

The book was written over 20 years ago. There's no kindle version, I have a dog-eared copy made from a material called paper.

Yet many of the featured brands continue to deliver on the promise that in 'an increasingly crowded market place, there are certain companies that really stand out from their competitors.'

They include Amazon, Virgin, easyGroup, First Direct, Harley Davidson, Krispy Kreme and Pret A Manger.

You may not like or use those brands. But you can probably explain why they are different from their competitors. Put another way, you can see why they stand out.

According to the authors, all the featured companies 'defied conventional wisdom and broke the traditional rules of management to engender exceptional levels of commitment from their people, who, united behind a clear brand vision, translate their belief in the company into exceptional customer service.'

So let's look at this through a B2B lens.

Customer experience for B2B

Why is common sense not always common practice? What stops more firms from delivering standout brand experiences? Put another way, why are simple experiences like client communication still the most common complaint to the SRA?

Some would say it's too hard to change.

Others would say it's not a priority. Customer experience isn't the priority and that winning will come from superior management of budgets, systems and processes. That may also be true, success rarely happens in a bubble.

But as we enter another awards season, clients rarely give out awards to the firms with the best systems or highest profit per partner. Their accolades and referrals go to those firms who, in an increasingly crowded market place, stand out from their competitors.

To stand out you need to stand outside

Before you can stand out you need to know where you are standing.

Not in the eyes of your internal stakeholders but in the eyes of your clients. To see your world through a client's lens, you need to stand outside the four walls and look at your firm from their perspective.

Clients don't know - or care - that processes have always been done a certain way. Their priorities don't align with utilisation rates, risk management policies or talent development plans.

They have their own needs, expectations and priorities. As an individual and as a firm. Needs, expectations and priorities that keep evolving in response to market performance and supplier/competitor reactions.

So how do you keep up? How do you turn the insights from your client listening programme into brand experiences that stand out from the crowd?

Great CX starts with a vision

Do you have a passion for standout client experiences, but struggle to make changes within your firm?

The book summary gives us a clue about where to start.

The great brand experiences came from businesses that 'engender exceptional levels of commitment from their people... united behind a clear brand vision...'

Uniting people behind a clear brand vision is the foundation for success. The key word here is vision. If your Partners will rebel against spending time on a 'brand vision', call it a vision for client experience / client delivery / service / relationships. The label doesn't matter.

What matters is that the firm has a clear vision of the experiences to be consistently delivered to current and prospective clients.

Everyone knows what good looks like, and how they contribute to it. For some that contribution is about delivering the processes, systems and budgets that bring the brand vision to life.

Look back at that list of standout brands from the turn of the century. If you are a customer of Pret A Manger, Virgin, Pizza Express you know what to expect. You can say why their experiences are different from their big competitors.

Creating a standout brand requires consistently delivering on the brand promise.

In contrast, many law firms deliver on the individual promises of individual lawyers. They each deliver on what they consider to be a great client experience.

This plays out in directory testimonials. Clients rave about the expertise of individual people. As a result, most testimonials sound the same.

Bland client testimonials

From a client experience and a standout brand perspective, this is a huge red flag. From a financial perspective it's a huge risk. Bland testimonials indicate that clients don’t see what makes your firm distinctive. They are loyal to the lawyer, not the firm.

If that lawyer leaves, the client goes too. The firm's brand is playing second fiddle to each lawyer's personal brand.

Not only is individual client revenue at risk, it makes it hard for the firm to increase their share of wallet.

Some lawyers are reluctant to introduce clients to their colleagues. They worry that the client won't get the same level of experience and service.

Which is likely true. Those new colleagues will have their own view of what standout experiences look like.

That means the lack of a brand vision isn't just a marketing problem. It's an operational problem. An operational risk worthy of SLT and Board attention.

Creating a brand vision that informs your CX

So where do you start?

1) Gather your evidence from clients

Go back through your client testimonials - real ones written by clients not the Marketing team. Look for the common themes. Where do they rave about an individual's expertise, and where do they mention experiences that others could also deliver?

Now go through your complaints data. What themes relate to specific individuals and what themes reflect a breakdown in brand expectations?

2) Gather your evidence from key stakeholders

Talk to your senior decision-makers about what they personally consider great brand experiences. Separate the themes into experiences that they can deliver as an individual, and the themes that could be delivered by multiple people within the firm.

Now talk to the lawyers who get the best client feedback. Ask what makes them stand out and what they think they do differently. Probe for answers beyond their individual expertise, because you can’t replicate that quickly.

3) Create a vision for your firm's standout brand experiences

Now you have your evidence for creating a brand vision that inspires great client experiences.

Tell a story from the client's perspective, but in a way that will also resonate with your stakeholders. Weave in actual quotes and relevant examples. Make it feel tangible and exciting.

Make it feel operationally relevant too. Add an aspiration related to increasing share of wallet, or receiving more testimonials that reflect the brand rather than just individuals. Or anchor it around staff retention and talent development.

Delivering standout client experiences is not a project. It's how you do business. Client needs and expectations keep evolving - most recently highlighted by the disruption caused by GenAI usage.

Great brands are always listening and evolving. Their leaders are constantly looking at the business through a customer lens. Always-on client listening platforms are making it easy to maintain this ‘outside-in’ view, by using AI to measure your brand promises.

If your firm is looking to grow organic revenue, cultivating a shared vision of client experience is a great place to start.

Even if the plan is to stand still, staff retention is a growing problem. Can you really risk revenues following individuals out the door rather than staying with the firm as a whole?

Delivering standout brand experiences