By Mary Weisnewski

As consulting firms of all sizes know, what you’re selling is your people as much as your services. Along with the skills and experience, how your consultants interact with clients—the trust they engender, the expertise they convey, the level of friendliness and empathy they show—are all part of the package.

"In a very real sense, your employees are your product. They are delivering the experience, and it can be a huge differentiator in this competitive market,” says Laura Yurdin, chief communications officer at Point B Solutions Group, a national management consulting firm whose senior-level associates help clients execute on mission-critical projects. "That's why getting all employees on the same page with walking the talk of your company’s core values is crucial. Clients expect quality—what they are surprised by is the unique and meaningful experience of the engagement with you."

Brand tools become meaningful business assets that result in boosting the bottom line when rooted in the core values of your firm and your employees. The values are your guiding principles and drive the culture of the firm. Brand equity is then built by incorporating the brand into all internal and external decisions and communications for employees as well as customers. It's a tool to align mission, operations, culture and actions. The end result: an ROI you can see and feel. That's tangible brand.

The following are seven ways to walk the talk of your core values, and bring your brand to life:

1. Develop an authentic brand platform to keep everyone on the same page.

Auditing a brand involves understanding both the internal and external points of view. Talking to employees, customers and key business partners to find out what they experience and feel about your company. Out of this process are revealed the essential elements of the brand, from which to build your brand platform. This is the filter that everyone in the firm can use as a daily compass for navigating internal and external interactions and business decisions.

Point B was founded in 1995 on the principles of outstanding leadership and exceptional relationships. "These core values were organic, but needed to be better defined, verbalized and visualized as the company grew from three to seven markets," explains Yurdin, who headed the company’s branding process five years ago. "Before we began investing in collateral development, we spent a lot of time and resources on making sure we laid the groundwork properly. We had a brand—we just needed help in articulating it. The brand audit provided the information we needed to create collateral that effectively connects our associates and clients with who we are and what we value."

2. Use your brand as a guide for hiring, training and evaluating employees.

The brand roll-out is only the beginning—you have to use it or lose it. Employees must see that it is a guide for all of their actions from day one of being hired, throughout their initial and ongoing training, and in their performance reviews.

"Every employee who is brought into the company holds some element of the seven characteristics associated with our brand," says Clint Morse, founder and CEO of The Mosaic Company, a business training consulting firm in Seattle that first invested in brand development in 2002. "It’s a priority for us to build on these traits. We consistently coach employees on how live them—whether as an individual or a team."

3. Use brand consistently in all communications with employees and clients.

Starting with a tangible brand platform that successfully conveys your company’s core values can make the design process more cost-effective, time-effective and more powerful in the execution. These potent visual tools work hand-in-hand with the corporate culture. So, you can see and feel your brand as you walk through the halls of your firm, as well as in the collateral. When the brand is authentic to the true strengths of the organization, employees will embrace and champion it—they can feel their values are aligned with the firms.
 
Point B's brand promise, "One step ahead," is reflected in all of its collateral—from recruiting advertising, to annual reports to clients, to the Web site, to materials that support the business development efforts. "Our brand is a reflection of our values, it lies at the heart of what our associates and clients embrace about the firm. So it has to shine through and make the experience of working with, and for, Point B special," Yurdin explains.

4. Give employees ownership of the brand.

Rally your employees to be proud of your core values by rewarding them with recognition when they walk the talk of the brand.

The Mosaic Company highlights examples of employees taking the initiative to put brand traits in action in the company newsletter. The "Kudos Corner" features recognition by management and other co-workers, as well as clients, in their own words. A recent issue high-lighted three employees—the CEO, a customer service representative and a project lead—for adaptability and collaboration on projects, dedication to meeting challenges, passion and empathy. All of these are brand traits of the company.

5. Sometimes, brand is a sacrifice you make to live your core values.

Brand not only provides guidelines for what you will do, but also what you won’t do. In this way, brand can be a short-term sacrifice.

"Hiring for us is critical, and it can take a long time to find the right people who can really deliver on our brand promise," says Chuck Edwards, co-founder of Blue Gecko, a database management service provider in Seattle. "Consequently, we’re growing slower than we could. We rely on the judgment of the first person who answers the phone. We rely on customer service skills as much as technical savvy. Technical people have a reputation that they’re not 'people' people—that’s not true here. I'll ask questions about how someone has had to deal with people—their worst customer service experience ever and what they did. I’m looking at how they're telling me that as much as what they are saying. We're in a service business, a relationships business. The customer needs to know we’re really listening, they need to trust that we genuinely care."

6. Use customer and employee satisfaction as a litmus test for success.

If your customers consistently respond that the elements of your brand are a benefit to them and part of the satisfaction they experience, that's the best affirmation it's being used effectively. Nearly 90 percent of the Mosaic Company's business is from repeat customers, who often site the brand traits as reasons for re-upping their contracts.

Employee retention and loyalty are another measure of ROI. "Point B’s high employee retention rate and ability to hire A-list consultants in new markets is due in part to our ability to consistently and effectively communicate our brand," Yurdin explains. "If you are clear on who you are as a company—you will attract those who value what you value. That’s a real benefit for both the company and our clients."

7. Keep evolving your brand as your company grows.

Because carefully monitoring the brand is essential, Morse is initiating a follow-up brand audit to see if and how the Mosaic Company’s brand may need to evolve. "It’s important to keep investing in brand, growing and innovating as the company evolves, to maintain its value and ensure it continues to be meaningful to employees and customers."

No matter how large or small your company is, if you want your brand to be living and breathing, you have to give it room to grow. That's how you'll see—and customers will feel—the tangible results of brand.

Mary Weisnewski is principal and founder of Kite Inc., a Seattle-based full service brand strategy and design firm. She can be reached at www.kitebrandstudio.com.