Reputation and Branding

Although the bank I work at may now have a very well known “name brand,” it is a good example for me to discuss because I am familiar with our goal image and the things we do to help enforce it. My bank has 10 branches all in the central Illinois area, with our main branch being located in Central Illinois. I will speak about my branch in particular, but the same ideas apply to all of our bank’s branches. We have to compete with other local banks as well as the larger banks in the area. One way that we compete with those banks is through the brand and the reputation that my bank tries to project.

I would say that our brand is a local bank that offers competitive banking services both for businesses and individuals. We work to develop our brand by maintaining the name “First Bank” and the same logo. I actually recently heard my manager and another employee discussing how there was an issue when the branch in Savoy, and then the branch in Champaign opened. The branch in Savoy opened with the name “First Bank of Savoy” and the branch in Champaign opened with the name “First Bank.” The issue my manager was discussing was that people were confused when the Champaign branch opened about whether or not it was the same bank, but by that point it was too late to rebrand the Savoy branch. We also offer the same products at all of our branches and try to embody the same idea of a personal customer service. As a teller, I am supposed to provide excellent service and be able to interact with customers well at the same time that I take care of the banking needs. We are often reminded that our customers need to have our full attention, and that we should never make them feel as if they are interrupting anything that we’re doing. We also focus on having conversation with customers when they come in.

I would say that our reputation is a bank that offers some of the amenities of a larger bank, but still maintains the personal feel of a small local bank. We are able to greet most of our customers by name when they walk in, and we are able to work with everyone personally to set up accounts and other services in ways that meet their specific needs. Even with that small-town feel, we still have a broader range of services such as a range of personal and business checking and savings accounts, and other services such as savings programs, mobile banking, gift cards, and many other things. Our loan department also offers many different personal and corporate loans. These services help us to appeal to customers who want all of those options, but still want to have the small bank feel and atmosphere. Some of the things we are known for that don’t relate directly to our banking services are the dog bones and candy we hand out, the coffee we offer to customers daily, and our popcorn Fridays.

It seems that the difference between branding and reputation is that branding is more so about what services the company provides, whereas a reputation is more about how people perceive the company. The relationship between the brand and the reputation could be that part of a businesses brand is its reputation. I think another way they relate is that a business will try to make its branding goals a part of their reputation. If, as a bank, we try to brand ourselves as a bank with a local feel but larger service offerings, we want our reputation to be that customers feel as if we offer those things that are a part of our brand. I think another main difference is that the company sets the brand, however the customers in a way have a say in determining the reputation, because the reputation is completely dependent on what outside people see and think about the company.

Personal Reputation

I hope that I have a strong reputation among all groups with whom I interact, however for the purpose of this blog post I will discuss my reputation at work. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I work at a bank in downtown Champaign. I started working here at the end of this past May, so I’ve been at the bank for about six months now.

I believe that I have a pretty strong reputation at work. I actually asked one of my coworkers what she would consider my reputation to be, and she said that she would consider me to be hard-working, but also fun and “goofy in a good way.” I started working on earing a good reputation at work from the first day. I have always made sure to dress very professionally and be professional with how I wear my hair and makeup. I paid very close attention during my training because I wanted to show that I cared about learning everything I needed to know for the job, and I wanted to pick up the necessary skills quickly. During my first few weeks on the job, I asked questions frequently about things I didn’t understand so that I could expand my knowledge, and so that I would not make mistakes. I still ask questions whenever something comes up that I don’t know about. Recently I told my manager I wanted to learn more about FDIC coverage, and he gave me some reading material about it. I think that continuing to try to grow my knowledge at work, even in areas that I don’t need to do my daily job, helps to further my reputation as a hard worker and as someone who is willing to put in extra effort. Another way that I have developed a good reputation as a hard worker at my workplace is by always being willing to do any task that needs done. I frequently ask my manager if there is any extra work that needs to be done, and I always offer to help if one of my coworkers seems extra busy.

My reputation for being fun is something that my coworkers see more so than my boss. It is important to me to have a good relationship with the people I work with because we spend so much time together. My coworker told me that at first, she thought I would be a “bosses pet” and that I was trying to suck up to the boss by asking for extra work to do during down times. She said that she soon realized though, that I actually did want to do extra tasks when needed, and that she really appreciated that I could still be fun and interact with her and the other teller. I have spent time with my coworkers outside of work, and we have also done small office pranks on each other. These type of activities have helped me to develop a good reputation as someone that is friendly and fun to be around, instead of someone who cares only about the work.

Some days I do “cash-in” on my strong reputation at work. Since I am a full time student taking 16 credit hours in addition to working 20-25 hours a week, it is sometimes necessary for me to use down time at work to get studying done. While this is okay with my boss, I think it would be less ‘okay’ if I did not work as hard when we were busy. Another way in which I sometimes cash-in on my reputation is by occasionally making calls at work, such as setting up doctor appointments or advising appointments and other things like that which typically must be done during the work day. When I need to make a quick personal call, one of the other tellers always covers my station for me. This type of thing also is much more easy for me to do because I am such a dedicated worker.  

Principal-Agent Model

The first two triangle arrangements I’ve participated in that came into my mind were the triangle arrangement that occurs when I am at work, trying to solve a problem for a customer, and the triangle arrangement that has occurred within my family as a result of my parent’s divorce.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I work at a bank in downtown Champaign. I work as a Customer Service/New Accounts Representative. When a customer comes into the bank or calls with a problem, it is my job to do what I can to solve the problem. This sometimes means that I need to represent the customer and whatever their issue is when speaking with people or calling around to help resolve the issue. I also, however, am obviously still an agent of the bank and am representing the bank while I help the customer.

A specific example of when this occurs is when a customer sees a charge on their account that they think shouldn’t be there. I have to get information from the customer and have them fill out a form, and then I typically end up speaking with the bank employee who looks into those disputes. When I speak to her, I explain the customer’s issue and the reasons why they think the charge is illegitimate, and so in that sense I am acting as an agent for the customer. At the same time, I am an agent of the bank because I am a bank employee, and ultimately I have to call the customer back and explain to them how the bank is going to handle the issue. If there is every any tension, so in this example, if the bank employee I spoke with says they think the charge is legitimate, I will often restated the customer’s argument against that point, and in my experience so far, the result is that the charge gets refunded but the bank won’t return a charge from the same company again. The tension, in this circumstance, usually ends up getting resolved with that type of compromise. However, if it came down to it, I would definitely satisfy the bank while ignoring the need of the customer (to get the charge refunded).

I am uncertain if this example completely applies, however, because I am only acting as an agent for the customer because that is what being an agent of the bank requires, so in that sense, dealing with the customer is not dealing with a separate principal, but instead a part of dealing with the bank’s principal. This makes my performance in the view of the bank take complete precedence over my performance in the view of the customer.

The other example I mentioned is a much more clear fit with the bilateral principal-agent model. My parents got divorced when I was seven, and have continued fighting almost constantly ever since. This means that I was often in the middle of an argument, or being asked to do different things by each parent. One example of this would be a situation in which I a family event on my mother’s side was occurring during time I was scheduled to be with my father. My mother would count it as good performance only if I told my father I wouldn’t see him so I could go to the event, and my father would only count the opposite (if I told my mother I couldn’t go to the event because I wanted to see my father) as good performance.

Situations in which there was this type of tension because the two agents (my parents) had different goals and expectations occurred very frequently. There would typically be many ways to resolve the situation, be that completely taking ‘one side’ or picking some variation of a compromise. Typically though, most options would end up with the agent (myself) failing by satisfying one ‘master’ at least partially, and ignoring the other. In practice, I usually tried to stick with the least confrontational approach; I would usually try to find some sort of compromise that would not make either of my parents completely happy, but would not make either completely unsatisfied either.