When was the last time you spoke to your team about what your business stands for and what its positioning is?
So often we see internal teams left out of the positioning process that inconsistent messaging and mishaps become the norm.
Here’s our little run down on why you should be including your team in everything that you do.
Your positioning has moved on – did everyone keep up?
Revisiting your positioning every so often (there’s no set timeframe for revisiting – it just has to be done) is good practice. It’s an evolution of the thinking behind your business and reflects who you are today, not last week.
Although the evolution process is rarely a complete pivot on what you’ve done or said before, it does leave one danger shining back at you in the darkness: did your team keep up with you when you shifted the narrative?
Having your team fully on board and behind the positioning and direction you’ve chosen for your business is critical. From pitches to board meetings, team building to events, having your team on the same page as you and the business are key to a consistent message.
There’s no use having the fanciest, best positioning on the market if it doesn’t trickle down to your team. Consistent messaging starts at home, and it should run through the veins of your business – i.e. your team.
Your team moved up – did your positioning keep up?
Where your positioning moves on and your team doesn’t keep up, there’s a parallel. Your team changes and moves on over time, with key team members coming and going and changing the direction of the business. But does your positioning keep up with the changes?
As your team moves on, so too does the business. The positioning of your business should reflect those changes. It’s a bit like the chassis of a car being completely changed and bodywork being replaced – it’s not really the same car anymore.
To reflect the changes in your positioning. For example, is your culture still the same? Is the thinking in the board room still the same? Even right down to a product level things might have changed, so you need to examine every aspect to understand where you need to tweak your positioning.
Is everyone on the same page now?
It’s worth checking that everyone is actually on the same page. You can do this through surveys, questionnaires, interviews, and all manner of research techniques. By nailing down that information, you can be sure that:
- People are on the same page
And
- Your positioning still rings true.
To be honest, these surveys should be conducted as part of the positioning process anyway so there are no gaps and nothing is missed in the first place. By getting under the skin of the team in your business, you can begin to understand the level of detail you need to go into in order to ensure that there’s consistency in your messaging.
The pitfall of not doing that is someone walking into a pitch or client meeting and reciting the old positioning line, or talking about values that aren’t relevant to your business anymore.
Getting everyone on the same page is critical to the consistency of your business.
And that’s that
Holding regular team days, highlighting internal communication, and generally being transparent with your team all go a long way to ensuring that your positioning is consistent across the business – meaning that outwardly you have a good, solid message.
So often the team and internal elements are forgotten as part of the positioning process that even the best value propositions fall flat because the internal team aren’t being included.
So remember to include your team, both when starting from scratch or revisiting your positioning. Monitor the situation and keep coming back to your positioning and checking in with your team – after all, the last thing you need is someone communicating the wrong message to the right people.