Communication is about sharing information. Some of that information is related to the task.What are we doing, why and how? It’s information our partners need to feel included in the process and to accomplish their tasks. But we must also share information about the relationship: how we are resolving our conflicts, building trust, making decisions, and so forth.Without this type of communication, our relationship may not evolve and develop as we move through the Stages of Relationship Development.
Listening is another important communication skill needed to build trust.When we actively listen to our partners,we share complete and accurate information between us. This ensures that no partner feels left out of the communication loop—one of the biggest obstacles to building trust.When we listen to our partners,we gain insights into their needs and what is motivating them to work collaboratively with us. This information enables us to help our partners get their needs met. This is important if we want our partners to feel we are working for them.
One final note on communication is that technology has created many platforms for us to communicate with each other. Some of us prefer e-mail while others would rather pick up the phone or have a face-to-face conversation. Be sure to check with your partners and determine their preferred method of communication and try to meet that need as often as you can reasonably do so.
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Rating outlooks and watchlists tend to have a built-in lag, too. Moody’s has an 18-month horizon for its outlooks and 90 days for its watchlist, whereas S&P targets 90 days for its credit watch listings, and a longer but unspecified time-horizon for outlooks. Hence, credit ratings appear to be serially correlated. This in turn creates the impression that rating actions tend to lag changes in credit quality and their perception by market participants, reflected in spreads, substantially. Current research focuses on the rating outlook and its impact on corporate bond prices. Since the mid-1990s, European corporate bond investors on average have become much more professional. Consequently, changes in an issuer’s credit quality are anticipated earlier than they were some years ago. In conjunction with the increased liquidity of the European corporate bond market this has led to the observation that bond prices adjust rapidly to the fundamental assessment of market participants and their expectations regarding a possible rating change. Therefore, changes of the rating outlook that lead actual rating changes are monitored closely by corporate bond investors.
The next priority is to understand what the brand means to customers, or what it is intended to mean, and then to find ways to deepen this appeal. This can be achieved by considering all aspects of the brand. For example, to whom does it appeal? Is the tone of voice commensurate with the brand values, target market and any existing perceptions? If you were to describe the brand as an entity, what would you choose and why? Use the brand. Understanding how the brand differentiates a product from its competitors is important in deciding which attributes to emphasise and how to target competitors. This can be explored by considering what makes the brand different. What makes it exceptional? How special is the brand and how easily could it be replicated? Ideally, there should be sufficient barriers to replication to ensure that the brand remains strong and distinctive. An audit of the brand will be helpful in determining how strong and credible it appears to customers and will give some insight into the extent to which the brand can be stretched into new markets, and the values that could enable (or disable) this from happening. Also to be considered is whether there is sufficient investment in the brand and how it can be strengthened.
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This links with the next advantage: the ability of brands to build customer loyalty, again because of the trust and even affection that they can generate. Customer groups can identify preferred brands easily, becoming repeat purchasers. A classic example is the old adage “no one ever got fired for buying ibm”. In this extreme case, even when consumers did not necessarily like the product, they still respected the brand.
Another advantage of brands is that businesses can launch profitable new products with a flying start by exploiting the popularity and strength of an established brand. Cherry Coke and Diet Coke are examples of this approach, where the strong, established Coca-Cola brand (probably one of the strongest commercial brands in history) underpinned the launch of these two new drinks. This reinforced the brand still further by attacking the competition, adding another dimension to the brand (innovation) and developing new markets (such as the diet soda market). There are two benefits: brands often make it easier to introduce new products by exploiting “brand equity”; and they provide opportunities to open up new market segments. For example, food manufacturers often exploit their position to create sub-brands of diet versions (such as an established yogurt manufacturer successfully launching a low-fat product).
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