LATEST UPDATE : Posted 29 Aug 2005

Walking The Walk

These are typically exciting times for the new brand owner but they can bring their own frustrations too. Having tried on the new visual identity and liked the fit, Paul has spent the last number of weeks flexing the muscles of his new brand and stepping into the new role. For my part, this is where I need to take a step back and let Paul try things out for himself. Only he can breathe life into the brand and take those first steps.

In the meantime, we have been looking at mapping out how the new brand should behave in a number of key areas. Too often, business owners limit the brand to a visual identity and neglect to put it to work for them in every part of their business mix. But Paul has shown a real appetite for building a brand that will walk just as convincingly as it talks.

We've agreed that he needs to tread very carefully along the line that separates the two roles, the sales troubleshooter and the sales trainer. The key here is that we develop guidelines that enable Paul to gain his own sense of what's right and not right for the brand rather than offer a daunting set of do's and don't's.

I present these to Paul as a working brief, something that he can add to as he goes along (and ideally something that he will take to the heart of his business over the next few months).

Whilst I will check in with him informally over the next little while, this brings our work on the brand to an end for now, and we agree to meet up in three months time to see how the Paul Lanigan brand is doing.

Brand Imperatives

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FROM THE BEGINNING

The Story So Far...

Three years ago, Paul took on the Sandler Sales Institute franchise in Ireland and has since developed it as a leading player in sales training on this side of the Atlantic. More recently, he has put together the successful I'd Rather Go Blind series of motivational seminars.

He is now keen to establish a master brand, working title Paul Lanigan Inc., in order to build a significant international business as an expert in the world of sales.

We'll be meeting Paul over the next couple of days to find out more about what he wants for this new brand and to begin putting together a schedule for design, development and delivery.

Starting Thoughts...Paul's View

I'm about to meet Gerard shortly for my initial session. I've just enough time to sit down and figure out what I want to get out of our meeting.

How did I get here is my first thought, followed quickly by should I even be here? I've been an authorised licensee of the Sandler Sales Institute for nearly three years. I've really enjoyed the ride - lots of ups and downs - I quess that's how you know you're winning in business - when you have fewer downs than ups.

The Sandler Sales Institute (the franchise owner) is a suberb organisation. Their sales and sales management training is second to none. In the US, it's a natural choice for professionals seeking to improve their sales skills. That however, is in the land where selling is recognised as a profession.

My experience in Ireland is very different. In the main, people tend to view sales training as a remedial intervention rather than essential ongoing professional development.

Contrast that attitude against a backdrop of near universal dissatisfaction with the performance of salespeople and sales teams in general and you have an unresolved problem. In my business unresolved problems equal market opportunity.

As it was eloquently put to me by a colleague I was discussing my training business with - "Paul, you're fishing too far downstream". I interpreted this to mean that I am bring a serice to market for which there isn't enough desire. That is fundamentally because great sales training is really about habit formation and behaviour modification - in other words change. But maybe that creates as much heartache as it solves.

I am begining to believe that a significant number of organisations want someone to come and sort their specific sales challenges out. Maybe that means hiring and firing, maybe it means tighter integration with marketing or the implementation of best practice sales processes. At this stage, a business is not even thinking of sales training. There are more immediate problems. Again, problems equal opportunity.

So why undergo a branding exercise?

1) I cannot tamper with the Sandler brand. I don't own it
2) I want to be recognise as the guy who sorts out the problem. Not the guy who's selling a training programme.
3) I only want to work with like minded business owners and senior managers who share the same sense of urgency and commitment to get the job done

My bottom line outcome is that I want to influence choice. When a CEO of an SME is pulling their hair out in frustration with their company's sales efforts, I want them to think of me as the answer. Much in the same way as you think of Regain for hair loss or Grecian2000 for grey hair.

OK, time to go and meet the man.

Initial Briefing

I met with Paul on Wednesday to hear a little more about what he wanted for the new brand. It was a fairly informal discussion, an hour or so in a quiet corner of the Sheldon Park hotel lobby.

I needed to know what objectives Paul wanted to set for the brand. Too often, we don't make our brands work hard enough for us. But Paul is a tough taskmaster. His objectives were simple but challenging.

He wants to lead his market. He aims to be the best at what he does and he wants a brand that will help take him there.

Specifically, he wants a brand that makes him and his organisation synonymous with problem-solving in the world of sales.

He wants to offer new thinking, to "figure it out and fix it". He talked a little about being a sales doctor, with a whole range of prescriptions and tonics in his black bag. First the diagnosis, then the cure.

He wants to enjoy his work. He described how he feels about sales as something akin to missionary zeal.

And he wants to make a difference in the lives of his customers and to the bottom line.

Whew! That's easy then. A brand that's just what the doctor ordered!

I suggested to Paul that we get together as soon as possible with a small group (no more than four or five), ideally comprising some of his business colleagues and, ideally, a client or two. This session will offer us the chance for Paul and his colleagues to begin telling the Paul Lanigan story and for me to get a better sense of the bigger story that he's planning to tell in his work.

We're aiming for early this week. I'll let you know how we get on.

What Are You Like?

We met on Tuesday at the Guinness Storehouse following Paul's Sandler Sales Training Session there. Paul had pulled together a good team to help: Dermot (business owner and friend since their schooldays in Kilkenny), Mark (business manager and client), Alan (business owner and client) and John (entrepreneur, author and client).

I like the Storehouse as a venue; it's a good place to start the search for a great brand. These sessions are usually a mix of stories: history, case study, anecdote and hearsay. And, of course, trying to tell what the success story in the future will be like.

We went through some of the usual stuff, mapped out objectives for the business, talked about some of the things that Paul does really well, looked to his natural strengths and to the skills and perspective he has picked up along the way.

People talked of a guy who is resourceful, stubborn, ambitious, persistent. We heard how he insists on tough decisions, takes the unconventional route. Dermot spoke of his "uncommon common sense" and Alan and Mark, who had attended his training sessions and seminars, confirmed his ability to make things happen and to "pull things out of the fire".

So far, so good. We agreed that there was some good stuff in there. But John suggested that we were only scratching at the surface. Dermot wanted to go back further, to talk about a Paul that he knew as a teenager and which the rest of us only glimpsed now and then.

He told stories of a young man who ran full square at life, tilted at windmills and who would cross the road to stand up for someone in trouble. He talked of his appetite for mischief. We heard of pranks gone wrong and how Paul dug in his heels rather than give up his co-conspirators when he was caught redhanded. He talked as well of Paul's refusal to give up when things went against him.

Now we were on to something! We were hearing stories of a young troubleshooter, ready to kick down the door to sort out the bad guys and rescue the girl. Someone with an eye for the dramatic gesture, a taste for the madcap approach. A sudden image of a young Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon popped into my head and the others agreed that there were echoes of Paul's stories there. Someone else suggested the early Eddie Murphy. Now the ideas came thick and fast from around the table and I had lots to work on.

My job now is to sift through what I've heard, sort out the pieces that fit together and begin to describe the bigger story that Paul might tell in his work. This usually takes the best part of a week, whilst I mull it over, see how it all hangs together. I'll be back in touch when thatÕs done.

What Are You Like?(2) - Paul's View

I'm sitting here alone in a quiet corner of the Guinness Storehouse. I've just gone through a very interesting two hours with Gerard and some clients. It's at times like this that I'm glad I'm a last born. It's the youngest child syndrome - they love listening to people talk about them.

I don't know how personal this would get if we were talking today about a company brand. I know Gerard might say that the process is identical whether it's Paul Lanigan Ltd or Widgets Ltd, but this feels a lot more personal. There were five people in a room today talking for two hours about me and their perception of me. Again, Gerard emphasised that we were there to talk about the PL brand, but from where I'm sitting, there's very little distinction. I don't think this is for the faint-hearted, the shy or the insecure.

What made the process today quite special (from a branding perspective) was that my old friend Dermot Bolger participated. Dermot and I grew up together. There's an old picture in my mothers house of Dermot and I playing together at the age of 3 and 4 respectively. In the photograph, one of us has a wet pants and the other is crying, I would love to know the story behind the photograph.

In the summer of 1984 we broke our backs picking strawberries in Denmark. Dermot was my best man at my wedding in 1991. He's a guy I admire tremendously. Today he didn't hold back on telling stories from my past. This was in front of my clients! What would they think now? Bang goes the professional image. I was a little uncomfortable at first, but then the penny dropped. This is the story behind the photograph. Imagine looking at a really old family photograph, the older the better. Typically the man is standing up and his wife is sitting down and the two of them are surrounded by several children, all dressed in their Sunday best.

I have many such photographs and I'm always drawn into the photograph wondering what the subjects were doing before the photo was taken. What was their relationship like, what was on their minds that day, were they happy, what would they be doing later that day? In many ways we do the same with our businesses. We dress them up in their Sunday best and we take a snapshot. We then present this snapshot to the world as our business - but it's not. It's hard to develop a relationship with a snapshot, particularly when we know it's been airbrushed.

I'm reminded of a seen from the Sopranos where one of Tony's gang says to a guy just before he "whacks" him - "it's not personal Mikey, it's just business" He was wrong (but I won't tell him that!). All business is personal. Therefore, the more personal this process is the better.

I'm really excited now. This process is really coming alive.

What's The Story?

Things have really come together during the last few days. I found the Storehouse working session very useful and left with a strong sense of the story and the profile that would work best for Paul. Once I catch a glimpse of that story, the rest follows fairly quickly. It's largely a task of the imagination, as I sort out the various strands of anecdote, hearsay and history. I am always surprised by the way in which a story can be old and new at the same time. Paul's story has been told in other times and places so it's familiar to us. At the same time, we haven't heard it told in quite this way before so it's new and exciting. This is what I love about branding, the opportunity to offer your own take on a timeless classic.

I had one thing I wanted to do before I presented the profile to Paul. I wanted to check out my thinking with Sinead (Paul's wife and somebody who knows him for a long time and is close to both him and his business). If we are to create a role for Paul to step into with conviction, it's important that we have her view. I met with Sinead over coffee and heard her stories going back to when she and Paul first met. She confirmed much of what we had heard at the Storehouse but added even greater weight to the growing emphasis on Paul's sense of justice.

Justice is fast emerging as a core value of Paul's proposition for the new brand. Maybe this shouldn't surprise us. When we have worked hard to put together a great offering and have found our market, there is nothing as frustrating as being let down by a failure to sell. From my own experience, and from talking with clients, there is often a ferocious sense of injustice and hurt at the lost opportunities ("It's just not fair"). If justice is at the core of where Paul is, it seems to me that we're in the right territory.

Brand Profile

Face-off! (Paul's Take On The Brand Profile)

There's a familiar notification that sounds whenever I receive an email. I'm inundated with junk these days and my instinct is to delete whatever's clogging up my inbox this time. Only it's not junk, it's an email from Gerard. He's sent me a draft (he calls it a draft, to leave the door open for me if I don't like it, but I sense this is it). It's a strange feeling, like when you take a girl home to meet your parents for the first time. You're excited to be introducing her to your family, but there's a sense of discomfort - what if they don't like her?

However, reading through the profile document, it's not long before I'm grinning ear to ear. Gerard has a way of bringing a brand to life through dramatic imagery. The fact that this is a personal brand makes it all the more interesting. It makes me sound a lot cooler than I feel. Maybe that comes from having children. What 12 year-old thinks his father is cool?

I called Gerard to talk it through; he's right on the money in terms of the territory I see the brand occupying. We discuss the next steps, which we confirm is a visual identity. Initially I thought that the visual identity (logo etc) was the end game of this process. What I've learned though, is that there are a number of what Gerard calls brand imperatives that we need to discuss. This essentially means that all communication and interactions with the market must be consistent with the brand values. But that's for another day. We need to get cracking on the visual identity first.

The Creative Brief

We met with Monika at Creative Inputs on Tuesday to brief the visual identity. This meeting is hugely important but easily underestimated as it's relatively short. We need to be very clear about what we want the visual identity to do for the brand. There's a real danger at this stage that we skip over something essential in our eagerness to see around this particular corner so we take something of a checklist approach to make sure we've everything covered.

We're looking for a mark that expresses the brand values and reflects its tough, decisive and individual character. We're aiming initially at an audience of decision-makers, typically CEO's and those who influence them, in Ireland and the UK. We're specifically charging it to put real distance between the brand and the traditional sales expert or the snake oil salesman. It often seems to me to a lot to lumber any visual identity with, but I'm always surprised at how much a good designer can pack in.

Monika asks a number of questions regarding applications and we agree that this brand will need to make an impact both on and off-line, particularly as Paul intends build a strong constituency through regular speaking engagements and publishing. We sign off on the written brief and will arrange a date for Monika to present her proposed solutions once she's spent a couple of days teasing out initial ideas and has a better sense of where she's headed.

The Lanigan Identity

It's Friday and I'm at Creative Inputs with the design team ahead of our meeting with Paul to present the proposed face for the brand. This is the stage at which it often gets real for the client, his brand made flesh. Until now, we've been dealing in ideas, ambitions and projections. Now, we get to see the brand in action, finding its own legs, showing its face to the world.

As you can imagine, this can be a tense affair. You might argue it shouldn't be. We're all adults here, making rational, objective decisions. But it doesn't always work that way (nor am I sure it should). There's a lot wrapped up in this and feelings can run high.

The boardroom clock shows a few minutes past the hour. No sign of Paul. Monika suggests that she show me what she's prepared whilst we're waiting. I love this part...

We've Been Expecting You...Paul Meets His Maker

I love Dublin. I just hate driving through it or around it. It's a living example of systemic planning ineptitude and weak management. It's so inefficient. I wonder how long these guys would last in the real world where if you don't perform, you don't eat.

I'm on a stop start journey to a meeting in Ranelagh with Gerard and the design team at Creative Inputs. They're going to unveil the visual identity for the PL brand. I'm looking forward with just a tingle of trepidation to seeing what the team has come up with.

As I think about shortcuts through the traffic mayhem, Gerard calls to check on my progress. I assure him that I'll be with him in 15 minutes.

My thoughts turn to wondering what the team at Creative Inputs are thinking right now.....it can't be easy pouring your heart and soul into a design and then hanging on tenterhooks wondering whether the client will like it or not.

I think my business is easier (for me). I'm far better at finding 'what is' than 'what is yet to be' (it's the engineer in me...step 1 - contain the problem, step 2 - identify root cause, step 3 - etc.)

At last I've arrived. I ring the bell and I double step up the stairs. I'm soon ushered into the boardroom. I smile and they smile but they're all fake smiles. I'm uncomfortable being late. I'm also very conscious that this is the first moment of truth. I'm sure the team already assembled in the room can't be happy that I'm late, but I'm sure too they're more concerned about my reaction.

The formalities are dispensed with. Monika, the lead designer doesn't beat about the bush. With the visual identify hidden from my view, she informs me that what she comes up with is "it". She feels she's right on the money. There is only one design - no options and if I don't like it, it's back to square one.

With my sales hat on, this is a tactical blunder. I like Monika though and I admire her work. She's probably right about getting it right. She continues to explain the concept behind the identity.

Now I've stopped listening - I just want to see it. With that she slides the cover off the A3 display case...

So, What Do You Think?

I'm not sure what to think.

What have they done with my name? Why is the logo angled like that. I maintain a poker face and mutter a cautious "OK...".

Monika explains the thought process behind the logo design. I'm still looking funny at it - I've never seen my name broken like that before and why the small "i"? These are silent thoughts, as I am holding fire until I see more, but the truth is that I'm not knocked out.

Then Monika reveals the business card. Oh hell, I don't like the card at all. It reminds me of a ticket you'd use on the tube in London. Strong visually but too weenie physically. I'm trying to figure out how to tell Monika what I'm thinking without hurting her feelings.

Only the letterheads left to view, I'm not hopeful but I can't close my eyes, that would give away what I'm thinking........

Oh wow! I'm gob smacked. I'm shown the letterhead with some masthead options. Now that I see the logo in situ, it looks fantastic. Then Derval (Account Director at Creative Inputs) slides an article I'd written on the downside of cold calling across the table. Only it doesn't look like the article I wrote. It looks great! It has the title streaming out of the logo.

It jumps out at me, visually strong, clean and direct. Then it hits me, that's exactly what I want from the brand. Monika was right, she got it spot-on first time.

I still haven't said a word at this stage, so I decide to give it to them straight...I !%$&ing love it" Some situations call for a good wholesome expletive. This was one of them.

I turn to Gerard and ask...what do you think?

View_Logo
View_Masthead
View_BusinessCard_Front_&_Back
View_Letterhead

What Do I Think?

In a sense what I think doesn't matter. At this stage, we have set a task for the identity, defined what we want it to do for us. My role is not to get too involved in whether I like it or not but to speak for the brand.

Of course, that's easier said than done. I still get a rush when a new identity is revealed. I like this one from the off. I especially like how the mark accommodates the 'clear thinking, straight talking' line. It's a strong, confident mark, one I believe Paul can use with real conviction.

I also judge it to be right 'on brand'. After that, it's a question of Paul's living with it for a few days, allowing it to work for him (or not) and then taking the decision on whether it's the mark that will help to take him and his business where he wants them to go.

My next task is to look at the other aspects of brand behaviour and communication. Paul and I put a date in the diary for this and I leave him to acquaint himself better with his new baby.

Got Myself A...

Gerard called me a week ago and suggested we meet to discuss the PL brand behaviour. That was a term I'd not heard before, but I had suspected that the process was not completed and I was intrigued. I'm sure Gerard had mentioned to to me before but I was so wrapped up in the visual identity that I didn't give it too much thought.

We discuss a range of areas that Gerard feels I need to consider. These are mostly focused on how to make a clear distinction between the PL brand and the Sandler Sales Institute brand. That may sound simple in theory, but I discovered that there are a number of potential landmines I need to avoid. Even simple matters like dress code must support the brand identity (The PL brand is not a corporate suit). What happens when I publish an article, do I publish it under Sandler or PL?

The one area that I hadn't thought about was marketing. PL doesn't make cold calls, produce prochures, pens or baseball caps with logos on them. I'm not even sure if a website is appropriate.

However, the PL brand is not shy about expressing an opinion. Gerard and I agree that a blog site would be appropriate for the brand. Which is good, as I had already started one. Now I can apply the PL visual identity to the site (www.paullanigan.com).

In the end I took a simple message away with me. To date, we had captured the essense of the PL brand. We even had a visual representation of the brand. What we didn't have yet was a working brand. To me, a brand is a working brand only when it exists in the mind of the public. The perception of the brand is everything. Perceptions can be created though various marketing channels (word of mouth, PR, Direct Mail and other offline strategies as well as online strategies). However, they can be destroyed in an instant if the brand experience doesn't match the perception. The branding process creates the expectation. The experience must deliver on the expectation.

I had an experience a couple of weeks ago when I had to leave my car in for its first service. The brand values of the dealership would suggest that I should expect the "ultimate service experience", flawless, clinical, efficient, enjoyable. My experience was anything but. It was incompetent at best, displaying complete disregard for the customer. I've estimated that the lifetime cost of the resulting lost business to the dealership is around 500,000 Euro. Which leads me to conclude that branding is a whole company process not a marketing process. It may be owned by the marketing department, but the entire company must deliver on the brand.

Clearly a lot done, more to do.

...Crying, Talking, Sleeping, Walking, Living Doll

I met with Paul for an hour or so in the lobby of the IFSC Clarion to walk through the next steps for the new brand. Sometimes, it's easier to work on the visual identity simply because it's visible but it's just as important to tackle how the brand behaves in all of the other areas of business activity. Otherwise, you can look the part but fall down when it comes to delivering on that first impression.

In this case, Paul's challenge is even greater. We have designed the Paul Lanigan brand in order to allow Paul to put some space between his Sandler Sales Training Business and the Paul Lanigan Business. In addition to looking different, the two businesses will have to behave differently and Paul will have to play the part required by the particular business.

This isn't to suggest that Paul adopt a split personality. Instead, this is a question of roles. The roles of trainer and trouble-shooter are quite distinct and customer expectations for the two are very different. Paul, and any teams that he builds to help deliver his business, will need to step into the role of trainer or trouble-shooter and play it with conviction.

We walked through the role of trouble-shooter, using the brand profile as our reference, and asked what behaviour we would expect from someone playing that part in the key areas of the business.

We talked about the working environment for the brand, the hostile, frontier territory in which it will operate and speculated on the type of behaviour best suited to negotiating that space.

We agreed that much of that behaviour will come naturally to Paul (you'll remember that we drew on Paul's own experience to determine the brand) and that he is likely to step into the role easily enough when it comes to acting quickly and decisively for a client. We also agreed that it is less obvious how this role is to be played in terms of business development, marketing and communications (how does a troubleshooting Mel Gibson or Clint Eastwood tout for business?).

We will work on these areas over the next week or so and build what we call Headline Imperatives for the brand to help Paul and his team step more easily into the role.