Question

Topic: Branding

Branding Research And Brainstorming Sessions

Posted by Anonymous on 4/19/2004 at 12:02 PM ET 250 Points
I'm rebranding our corporate image and products to bring them closer together increase our brand in the market. So far, our company is doing quite well, but we need to tighten the gap a little bit.

It took some fighting, but I got the National Sales manager to get his sales team a meeting for this Brainstorming session.

At first, he wanted me to create a questionaire and just have them fill it out. BUT i didn't want that, I want a free form brainstorming session, in which I would run, and have pre-set questions. THey will answer them and discuss.

Althought I finally convinced him that this is important, I've gotten it so I can get 3 people in each session...whereas I wanted it to be everyone at once, which isn't possible due to our team needing to man the phones.

It was tough, but I finally have his support.

NOW, I'm not sure what questions are good to ask! I want some feedback on how their customers perceive us, on our competitors, and such. But, what are some other great relative questions to ask the sales team in order to add to my current research.

I've been using Alina Wheeler's book "Designing Brand Identity" In order to do this rebranding process right, and achieve the best results.

So with that in mind, please offer sample questions, advice on how to effectivly run this session, and any other tips that come to mind! Also, any web resources would be helful as well!

Thanks!

Valerie
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 4/19/2004 at 12:21 PM Member
    Hi

    do the participants know what your goals are?

    It sounds like your task may really be to get them talking, freely, about their work. They shouldn't have any fear over anything they say. So you'll need to set up each session carefully, so that everybody's comfortable right from the start.

    Whatever words you use, absolute transparency is the only way you're going to get & keep their trust on this. Tell them why you're doing this, what you want to hear about, what you're going to do with the outputs.

    It can help to have them sitting facing you, without any tables between you & them. Literally, removing the barriers.

    hth

    Will Rowan
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 4/20/2004 at 1:14 AM Accepted
    Two pieces of advice from an experienced facilitator of strainborming and other strategically fuzzy company meetings...

    Definitely let the participants know the purpose of the meeting, but not necessarily the questions you'll be asking. Perhaps you can tell them you'll be leading an informal conversation that will influence your sales strategies in a big way. Ask them to think about recent and relevant events beforehand, like the last ten sales they closed (or didn't close).

    Don't do Powerpoint. Please. No, I mean it. Better to cover the walls with [mostly] blank flip chart pages. Put some headings on a few of them. But keep every idea visible. And draw pictures, instead of words, as often as you can -- it has an uncanny way of opening up the mind of the participants, even if you're a lousy artist!

    Shelley
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 4/20/2004 at 1:50 PM Accepted
    Valerie, that's an awful lot to accomplish in one hour! Instead of the three sections you describe, I would get the participants to talk only about what CUSTOMERS think. (You can bet that their own perceptions will "leak" into the discussion, too.)

    One idea for accomplishing your competitor analysis: Give participants a stack of web screen shots (or product brochures or some such collateral). Ask them to arrange them on the wall ranked according to how they think customers perceive the brands' XYZ -- XYZ being a characteristic you pick (like "best value" or "quality"). This can be a quick exercise if you give it to a small group and set a time limit of 9 or 11 minutes.

    I'm sure you'll get more input from everyone on the rest of your plan. Good luck!
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