In my recent post about Trendwatching.com’s ‘Flawsome’ trend I explained what being ‘flawsome’ means but didn’t expand on what I believe some of its characteristics might be. So here they are.

Remember, as an organiastion or individual, being ‘flawsome’ is delivering an authentic mixture of being honest about your flaws, being willing to be held accountable and doing so in a way that’s empathetic, generous, humble, flexible, mature and good-natured.

Clients and consumers in 2012 won’t expect brands or companies to be flawless – they know it’s just a matter of time before something goes wrong and they fail in some way. Rather than flawless, they will want to engage with organisations that are clearly ‘flawsome’.

Trendwatching will be providing a trend briefing in March focusing on Flawsome and Human Brands. In the meantime I’d hazard a guess characteristics of being flawsome are likely to include: Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: Russ Frushtick

Although articles and blog posts in January lend themselves well to the ‘New Year resolutions’ or ‘predictions’ type pieces for the year ahead this year being ‘flawsome’ is a trend I think will come to the fore.

‘Flawsome’ came in at number 8 on Trendwatching.com’s top 12 crucial consumer trends for 2012 and means the more humanly a brand or company behaves – admitting and even showing their flaws – the more awesome they’ll be perceived. Trendwatching notes:

“consumers won’t expect brands to be flawless; they will even embrace brands that are FLAWSOME*, and at large (or at least somewhat) human. Brands that are honest about their flaws, that show some empathy, generosity, humility, flexibility, maturity, humor and dare we say it, some character and humanity. Read the rest of this entry »

This year’s Christmas advert from UK high-street retailer John Lewis is an out and out reputation winner, which is more than can be said for Littlewoods – another UK retailer.

Both are cute, featuring children under 5 and a focus on presents, but where the Lewis ad hits the nail on the head in terms of positive emotion, and has received more than 3 million views, the Littlewoods’ ad does quite the reverse.

International speaker and confidence coach Eilidh Milnes says “I’d offer that John Lewis truly knows and understands it’s clients, matches the company ethics and ethos to its target market then dares to be different. The company holds its ground and maintains its standards – no questionable implications dubious morals or poor taste; with the advert … focusing on generosity not greed.” Here, here!

Littlewoods’ blatant commercialism and insensitivity won’t have won it many fans – adult or child. The obvious message is unnecessary and the ad’s ability to dispel the supposed myth that Mum, rather than Santa, provides gifts at Christmas will, no doubt, be the cause of tears before bedtime for many a littlie enraptured with Santa and his helpers. Read the rest of this entry »

When was the last time you used your phone to actually speak to someone? Chances are it won’t be anything like it used to be even just a few years ago, which is a shame because voice-to-voice, in-person communication is one of the most powerful tools we can use to build trust and rapport, and enhance our reputation.

We’re supposedly more connected than we’ve ever been and spend hours using social networks and sending emails, text and instant messages. And yet the constant availability of instant communication tools can make us more disconnected from in-person interactions than ever.

Far be it for me to decry electronic communications. Used effectively they can help us reach more people more cost-and-time-effectively and work in a way that suits us. They don’t, however, have the same power that can be generated from picking up the phone and actually speaking with someone in person.

So why is physically speaking with someone so powerful rather than sending them an email or text message instead? Read the rest of this entry »

As more of us get used to sharing our opinions online and off, handling negative feedback and complaints effectively has become increasingly important.

Interestingly, even though we’re increasingly happy to comment online, research tells us that around 96 per cent of us won’t complain to the provider directly when we’re let down.

We will, however, use ‘word-of-mouse’ to tell dozens of people we know face-to-face and via Facebook, Twitter and other social media and encourage them to share the information widely.

Few people complain for the sake of it. They complain primarily because:

1. They’re unhappy at being let down in some way and want to be personally recompensed or acknowledged for this and/or
2. They want to reduce the chance of someone else having a similar experience in future. Read the rest of this entry »

In Reputationz News each month I highlight what I consider to be recent reputation winners and losers. They can be people, companies or even abstract ideas. Some are fairly obvious. Others are off-beat or quirky. You may or may not agree! The lists are purely my opinion.

Check out the lists below for my pick of recent reputation winners and losers and feel free to leave a comment with nominations for the next issue if you think someone or something should be included.

Reputation Winners

• Australian legislation for promising to give investors in ASX-listed companies the power to force re-election of an entire board if investors believe executive pay is inappropriate two years in a row.

• Air New Zealand for continuing to provide scheduled flights and ensure passenger safely despite volcanic ash clouds that grounded flights by Quantas, Jetstar, Pacific Blue and Virgin.

• St Pancras railway station for supporting bands and musicans wanting to get their music across to thousands of passengers during lunchtime and rush-hour ‘Rock ‘n’ Rail‘ jam sessions.

Reputation Losers

• EMA (Northern) CEO Alasdair Thompson for spectacularly forgetting that the camera is always rolling, the microphone is always on and there’s no such thing as ‘off the record’ when discussing reasons for women’s sick leave.

• Celebrity endorsements of financial products and companies in New Zealand following proposed legislation to make endorsers liable for claims made and face fines of up to $1 million.

• Diving and snorkling on the Great Barrier Reef following a tourist being left behind by a dive boat operator in similar vein to previous tourists, some of whom made it to safety, some of whom didn’t.

Who or what do you think should be listed? Leave a comment to let me know. Click the link to view Reputationz News online.

In Reputationz News each month I highlight what I consider to be recent reputation winners and losers. They can be people, companies or even abstract ideas. Some are fairly obvious. Others are off-beat or quirky. You may or may not agree! The lists are purely my opinion.

Check out the lists below for my pick of recent reputation winners and losers and feel free to leave a comment with nominations for the next issue if you think someone or something should be included.

Reputation Winners

• The Kiwi owners of Farmers Trading Company for purchasing almost all of the Whitcoulls and Borders bookshops currently in receivership in New Zealand with a view to making the chains financially viable again.

• Christchurch inventor Glenn Martin for bringing his James Bond style personal jetpack one-step closer to commercial reality with a 5,000 foot flight that has military, search and rescue and commercial investors abuzz.

• The surgeons who undertook the first full face transplant in the US that gave Dallas Wiens the opportunity to have facial features again following an electrical accident that disfigured his face. Read the rest of this entry »

‘Entente’ (pronounced ‘on-tont’) in French means ‘understanding’ and ‘good relationships’, which makes it entirely relevant for Entente Pty Ltd in Australia to be initiating the inaugural International Day of Trust .

As the world’s only International Movement of Trust, Entente is encouraging individuals, businesses and communities worldwide to raise their awareness of the fragility and importance of trust and behave in ways that build trust at every level.

t12 dialogues will be held worldwide on 3rd May, including one in Auckland, to explore the role of trust in business and society, and to commit to behaving in a way that creates a world built on trust.

Breach of trust is arguably one of the single most important reputation damagers there is. Once someone’s trust or faith in you has been shaken, doubts are raised that will be extremely difficult to remove, and regaining their confidence will be a huge challenge. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the attributes many successful people often have is their ability to look for and seize trends, concepts and opportunities before other people do. They seem to have a knack of spotting the next ‘big thing’ and positioning themselves to take advantage of it before the masses even knows it exists.

We’re encouraged to keep our eyes and ears open and hone our antennae so that we won’t miss any opportunities and can be in a position to capitalise on them when they do come up. We’re told ‘the early bird catches the worm’ and ‘you snooze, you lose’. The emphasis is most certainly on being as ‘sharp’ as possible with an eye to the future and a nose for success.

But does chasing the future guarantee success? Perhaps success may be equally, or even more assured if we focus on the present instead.

Nothing is more off-putting than knowing the person you’re dealing with in the moment is thinking about something else rather than focusing on you. They might outwardly seem present and correct but you can tell from their body language and facial expressions that you’re not the focus of their attention. Read the rest of this entry »

Research indicates it’s 6-7 times more expensive to gain one new customer than it is to retain an existing one and that a 5% increase in customer retention can increase profits by between 25% and 95%!

It therefore makes sense to hang on to the clients and customers you already have, and create a legion of raving fans willing to recommend you, by genuinely and sincerely thanking your existing clients on an ongoing basis.

However, remember details are important. Even the simplest ‘Thank You’ will be met with suspicion and disbelief if the person’s name is spelt wrongly, or some detail about the transaction referred to is incorrect, or someone with a non gender-specific name such as Chris is referred to as ‘he’ when in fact he’s a ‘she’.

Instead of making the person feel valued and respected, administrative errors can generate quite the opposite effect. They can also raise doubts about your sincerity and systems and processes which may never have been thought about had you got it right in the first place.

So how can you minimise these types of errors and enhance your reputation for being great with the details? Read the rest of this entry »