Do your research
With such critical decisions before you, it’s important to identify the key stakeholders in the process and get buy-in early and often. In many cases, that buy-in means asking for their advice and feedback on where the company stands and where it should be going.
“This is not something — a decision — that can be made in a vacuum,” Kohnke says. “Just to any CEO out there looking to rebrand, this research was absolutely essential. It’s really critical when going through this process because, No. 1, you get great input, you see things that you otherwise may not have thought of because you’re always looking for land mines. We’re also getting very important buy-in from all of the stakeholders.”
Since the critical questions and concerns about Staffmark’s identity were coming from employees and customers, the company sought out those two groups in researching its ultimate direction.
“It was important to take a look at who are the drivers of our business, who are our stakeholders, what comprises our constituency — it’s all about customers and employees,” Kohnke says. “Then we segmented each of those groups to get the best (feedback).”
A crucial step is making sure you’re basing decisions on thorough information. Single out large and small clients, tenured employees and newer staff, and more importantly, identify subjects that span all geographies. And if you’re combining multiple brands, look equally within each brand.
“If you ask enough people in different cross sections of the constituency, whether they’re employees or customers, there will be very few items that surface post-implementation,” Kohnke says.
Once you’ve established your research base, assemble a list of questions that will move you from point A to point B. You should think about the reasons you decided to rebrand and what you see as the overall outcome.
Staffmark started the conversation with: Which brands have you heard about? What is your perception of the brand? What does the brand mean to you? If you are serviced by one of the three brands, how is the service level?
Part of the process is asking the tough questions and gauging the effect that eliminating or changing a brand will have on employee morale and customer satisfaction. Important pieces of the puzzle are: How important is a local brand? Will the customer leave if the brand is changed?
With such a large undertaking, it’s important to develop a system that isn’t convoluted for gathering information. To make the process easy for all involved, schedule conference calls or focus groups and make sure everyone that is part of the implementation has a chance to hear and collect feedback.
Kohnke didn’t want to leave missing details up to chance and hired a consulting firm to guide Staffmark through parts of the rebranding, including collecting research.
“A lot of changes have to happen simultaneously; you can’t repaint it with broad strokes,” he says. “You have to get down to the smallest detail, and that’s where this constituency and these focus groups, which were largely done telephonically, was very, very important for us to collect the information. (Do) not make it so comprehensive that it becomes burdensome, but ask on-point questions with enough open-endedness to hear what’s on people’s minds.”
