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Every enterprise delivers a number of outputs to the surrounding ambient in general, and to the market in particular.
Outputs include messages and behaviours.
Examples of MESSAGES:
- Product and whatever surrounds the Product (service, accompanying papers/documents, packaging.....)
- Printed matter, such as brochures, leaflets, catalogues, etc.
- Correspondence: letters, e-mail, faxes.....
- Adverts: TV, radio, media, flyers, billboards, luminous displays.....
- Prices, Price Lists, Product Specification Sheets, Manuals, Technical Support Papers, Certificates, Drawings.......
- Point of Sale material: stands, posters, displays, refrigerators (for instance for ice-creams or cool drinks).....
- Physical appearance: of the enterprise's premises (exterior layout, building, reception area, offices, factory layout/logistics, yard, service buildings, access road, signboards....) - of the enterprise's branches and detached units (branch offices, warehouses, showrooms.....) - of the enterprise's representative agents (dealers, wholesalers, retailers, stockists, sales agents......) - of the enterprise public presence (at shows and exhibitions - at specialised conferences - at sponsored events.....) - of the enterprise's mobile fleet: vehicles, trucks and lorries, delivery vans, construction machinery....
- Physical appearance and look: of managers, employees, workers, salesmen, agents, sub-contractors.....
- Personal, verbal, telephonic contacts - e-contacts
- Past experiences of Clients, Suppliers, sub-Contractors, Consultants, Bankers...
- Climate, that one can feel and touch in all contacts with the enterprise, its people, its agents............
BEHAVIOURS:
- Everybody's: management, employees, workers, sub-contractors, agents.....
- In person - telephonically - electronically
- Features: courtesy, punctuality, style, attention, focus, openness, clarity, seriousness, reliability, approach, maturity, professionalism, honesty, hospitality, help, assistance, semantics, smile.....
- Technical knowledge - know-how
Guided by enterprise's Principles/Values and supported by Symbols, messages and behaviours contribute substantially to define, generate and support the enterprise's image or to impoverish or even destroy it.
The world-class enterprise is "fanatic" about its image and sets a strategy addressed to identify it, define it clearly, promote it, support it, highlight it and perfect it.
The key words are, once again, everybody, consistency, coherence.
 Unless there is coherence between messages and behaviours, between words and facts, the enterprise image may result "skew", or "distorted", or "out of proportion"....
Everybody may coherently and consistently contribute to image effectiveness. Anybody, even with a simple action, may contribute to impoverish and even destroy it.
A rattling exhaust in a delivery van may be as detrimental to image as a defective product or as an incorrect or impolite telephone contact.....
Perception plays a determinant role in image management. World-class enterprises are well aware of it, as well as of the importance of the "first five minutes" phenomenon (by which the initial perception settles strongly and can be changed afterwards only with difficulty...).
As such, everybody is educated to be extremely attentive to the first and also to all subsequent contacts with the outer world: to ensure utmost positiveness of messages and behaviours (more »).
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