Standing Out

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Action Points
I. The Challenge of Building and
Maintaining Your Reputation in a
Crowded Market
While public perception of your company
may already be good, it can always get
better. You must strategically plan how to
stand out among your peers and adapt
to the changing needs of your customers.
II. The Bottom Line
You have to understand your brand before
you can successfully grow it. Know what
makes your company stand out from the
crowd and emphasize that in your marketing.
Highlight what makes you unique and build
awareness of that aspect to your customers.
III. Must-Haves for Staying Competitive
Image is everything. You should always try to
not just meet, but exceed expectations. Find
out what your clients expect and then deliver
more.

The presidents and CEOs of Accor North America, Winland
Electronics, and St. Edward’s University discuss:

Standing Out:
Maintaining Your
Company’s Reputation in
an Increasingly
Competitive Market
Olivier Poirot
CEO, Accor North America, Motel 6, and Studio 6

IV. The Golden Rules for Rising Above the
Competition
Every customer has a different need. What
works with one may not work with another.
Try different strategies and approaches until
you find the right one for each client.
V. Essential Take-Aways
Every person who interacts with your
company will walk away with a certain
perception of their encounter. Learn what it
is and try to build upon the positive and fix
the negative. Sometimes, being well-known
can be both a blessing and a curse, so make
sure you are known for the right things!

Contents
About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.2
Olivier Poirot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.3
Thomas de Petra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.6
George E. Martin, Ph.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.9
Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points . . . p.12

Thomas de Petra
President and CEO, Winland Electronics, Inc.
George E. Martin, Ph.D.
President, St. Edward’s University

I

n every market, there are thousands of names that are instantly recognizable and thousands more that are completely unknown. You need
to make sure that your company not only stands out from the crowd,
but stands out for a specific, excellent, and intentional reason. People no
longer just want to work with someone they know, they want to work with
someone they can trust. Learning what attracts people to your business
and also what may drive them away is essential. You need to stand out,
especially in this economy, and finding what differentiates you from your
competitors is necessary to rise above them. In this ExecBlueprint, you will
learn how to manage a well-known brand that is trying to change its
reputation, to manage customer expectations to maintain a reputation, and
to emphasize the strongest points of your business to build a new reputation. With these tools, you will be able to draw attention to your company
and establish a solid reputation in the marketplace. ■

Copyright 2010 Books24x7®. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without the prior written permission of the publisher. This ExecBlueprints™ document was published as part of a subscription based service. ExecBlueprints,
a Referenceware® collection from Books24x7, provides concise, easy to absorb, practical information to help organizations address pressing strategic issues. For more information about ExecBlueprints, please visit www.execblueprints.com.

About the Authors
Olivier Poirot
CEO, Accor North America, Motel 6, and Studio 6

O

livier Poirot is president and
chief executive officer of Accor
North America and chief executive officer of Motel 6 and Studio 6.
Accor North America’s portfolio includes
more than 1,000 Sofitel, Novotel, Studio
6, Motel 6, and Ibis properties throughout the United States, Canada, and
Mexico.
Before assuming his role as CEO,
Poirot served as CFO of Accor North
America beginning in 2003. In early
2006, he concluded the Platinum transaction, a sale-and-management-back
transaction encompassing eight of the
Sofitel properties in the United States. In
2007, Mr. Poirot coordinated and concluded the $1.312 billion sale of Red
Roof Inn. In 2008, under his leadership,

Motel 6 introduced the contemporary,
European-style Phoenix Prototype that
will take the brand through the next
decade.
Mr. Poirot is also leading Accor
North America’s development and property growth through corporate acquisitions and franchising with a goal of
1,100 properties by 2010. He has also
overseen the development of the Accor
Pinnacle Program, a program with the
goal of increasing diversity and ownership in the lodging industry. The program goes beyond the traditional diversity
program structure and includes finance,
training, suppliers, employment, franchising, and community relations.
Mr. Poirot joined Accor as senior vice
president in charge of finance for the

Accor Business and Leisure (ABL) division in June 2001. Prior to that, he was
CFO of Accor UK Ltd., in charge of
finance, IT, procurement, and legal for
Accor hotels in the United Kingdom and
Ireland, where he began his career with
Accor in 1992.
In 1990, Mr. Poirot began his professional career by managing the consultancy firm he started in France. He holds
a business degree and a DESSCAF from
Ecole Superieure de Commerce de La
Rochelle (Sup de Co), in France.

☛ Read Olivier’s insights on Page 3

Thomas de Petra
President and CEO, Winland Electronics, Inc.

T

homas de Petra has been the
President and CEO of Winland
Electronics, Inc. since May 2008
and was previously Interim CEO beginning in January 2008. Mr. de Petra was
Chairman of the Board of Winland from
2006 through the end of 2007 and has
been a member of Winland’s board of
directors since 1994.
Prior to his current role as a public
company CEO, Mr. de Petra has been a
business advisor, public company CEO,
turnaround CEO, COO, and entrepreneur in the financial communications

and publishing industries. Much of his
business advisory career has been devoted
to assisting troubled companies. As a
business advisor, Mr. de Petra has assisted
company boards and management teams
with investor communications programs,
crisis management campaigns, corporate
governance programs, and turnaround
strategies. He is a member of the National
Association of Corporate Directors
(NACD).
Mr. de Petra was the founder of
Vantage Advisory Services, De Petra and
Associates, Inc. and First Financial

Investor Relations, Inc. and was cofounder of Micro Digest, Inc. He studied
Political Science at Loyola University.

☛ Read Tom’s insights on Page 6

George E. Martin, Ph.D.
President, St. Edward’s University

G

eorge E. Martin, Ph.D., president
of St. Edward’s University since
1999, has led the university’s
successful effort to gain national recognition as one of the best small universities
in the country. During this time, the
freshman class has more than doubled
from 368 to 757 students, and freshman
retention has improved to 85 percent,
helping to increase overall enrollment
from 3,000 to 5,300 students. In its latest rankings, U.S. News & World Report
ranked St. Edward’s 21st among mastersgranting universities in the West and also
named the university as one of the “Up
and Coming Schools” identified by its

© Books24x7, 2010

academic peers. Donors have responded
to the university’s vision and momentum
by investing more than $70 million in St.
Edward’s. Currently, Dr. Martin is forming partnerships to establish a spectrum
of educational programs around the
world as part of the university’s global
engagement initiative.
Dr. Martin is a leader in American
higher education, serving as chair of the
Independent Colleges and Universities
of Texas and chair-elect of the Council of
Independent Colleges. He is equally
dedicated to community development
and the arts in Austin, serving several
civic and artistic organizations including

Ballet Austin and the United Way. He has
more than 30 years of experience in
higher education.
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Dr.
Martin holds a bachelor’s degree in
Political Science from St. John’s University
and master’s and doctoral degrees in
Political Science from Fordham
University.

☛ Read George’s insights on Page 9
About the Authors ExecBlueprints 2

Olivier Poirot
CEO, Accor North America, Motel 6, and Studio 6

Maintaining Your
Reputation with Customers

Defining Characteristics of
a Company’s Culture

We cannot discriminate between
our customers and the public at
large in terms of our corporate reputation because our brand recognition is very strong — i.e., 99
percent. In fact, Motel 6 is an
extremely well-known brand in the
U.S., to the point that nearly every
single American knows who we are
and what we represent. That is

Our people really know how to
stretch their dollars: we use that
term in our corporate communications, but that practice has been a
long-time reality in our organization
— and it has become even truer
over the past two years because of
the downturn in the economic
environment.
We were recently recognized as

The public’s overall perception of our
organization is fairly good, but we are working
at permanently improving our quality in order
to move the needle from a customer perception
standpoint.
Olivier Poirot
CEO
Accor North America, Motel 6, and Studio 6

obviously a blessing, but from a
perception standpoint that also
means that there are a lot of people
who love us and a number of people who dislike us. There are also
some people who think they know
us, but have never really tried us or
have not tried us in many years,
and we are trying to recapture
some of that clientele.
The public’s overall perception
of our organization is fairly good,
but we are working at permanently
improving our quality in order to
move the needle from a customer
perception standpoint. To that end,
we recently launched Motel 6 on
Facebook, and it is very interesting
to see the different dialogues
between people who love Motel 6;
our fans are talking to other customers, and it is good to see that
we have a fairly strong fan
community.
© Books24x7, 2010

the one company in the hotel industry that is clearly a leader from a
sustainable development and an
environmental standpoint; and
that has caught a few people by
surprise — although we have been
mindful of the importance of good
corporate citizenship and have been
quietly working on it for many
years. Again, I believe that Motel 6
serves a key purpose in providing
quality lodging for many people
who could not otherwise afford a
hotel stay, which is especially
important in this environment. We
offer price value in a way that is
uncontested in comparison to our
competitors, and many people
appreciate that fact.
Indeed, the current unfortunate
economic environment and the fact
that we strive to continue to
improve our price value ratio and
our quality consistency all combine

Olivier Poirot
CEO
Accor North America, Motel 6, and Studio 6

“Everything I do on a daily basis is
aimed at trying to move the needle in
the area of customer perception.”
• Previously served as CFO of Accor
North America, beginning in 2003
• Coordinated and concluded the
$1.312 billion sale of Red Roof Inn
• Holds a business degree and
DESSCAF from Ecole Superieure
de Commerce de La Rochelle
(Sup de Co) in France.
Mr. Poirot can be e-mailed at
[email protected]

to make us look better in the eyes
of our customers.

Best Practices for
Cultivating Good Corporate
Citizenship
All of our properties are part of
various communities; therefore, we
strive to be very good local citizens
from a corporate standpoint in
terms of getting involved in each
community through its local Chamber of Commerce as well as its
charitable organizations. In our
industry it is very important to
establish a good relationship with
the local authorities and to have an
Olivier Poirot ExecBlueprints 3

Olivier Poirot
(continued)

CEO, Accor North America, Motel 6, and Studio 6

Best Practices for
Cultivating Good Corporate Citizenship
Be Good Citizens
• Meet with the Chamber
of Commerce
• Become involved with
local charities

open dialogue with the local authorities in order to maintain a safe,
welcoming, and family-oriented
environment for our guests at all
our properties.
On top of that, we encourage
our people to participate in various
community activities, depending on
where they are based. For example,
last year all of our properties on the
Gulf Coast participated in several
days of cleaning up the beaches following Hurricane Ike. From a sustainable development standpoint
we try to encourage as much diversity within the organization as possible with respect to our employees and vendors; this means
encouraging diversity initiatives
within our employee ranks, celebrating differences — as often they
reflect on the diversity of our
guests. We also try to encourage
minority-owned businesses as part
of our procurement sourcing.
We also try to play a role in minimizing our impact on the environment, and to that end we have
designed a number of systems
which we have rolled out at our
properties nationwide. For example,
© Books24x7, 2010

Join the Community
• Promote participation
in local activities
• Encourage diversity
within the company

we strive to reduce energy usage at
every single location across the
nation, and we also have a nationwide fluorescent light bulb and battery recycling program. We try to
do what is right for the environment, and we also try to do it the
right way — which is sometimes a
challenge in terms of costs. For
example, we have a special capital
expenditure fund of $3 to $5 million dollars a year to help reduce
our energy and water consumption.
In addition, we recently opened a
prototype property near Dallas
which has so many green features
that we are applying for LEED
certification — possibly making
this Motel 6 the first LEED certified property in the U.S. Economy
segment, and certainly one of the
first hotels in Texas to be LEED
certified.

Motivating Employees to
Maintain a Good Corporate
Reputation
The fact that all of us in this organization work for such a strong
brand and a clear leader in our

Be Environmental
• Minimize your impact
on the environment
• Reduce energy usage

industry helps a great deal in convincing our people that we can
make the most out of this environment and be an even greater leader
coming out of the recession.
I also think that we are able to
successfully motivate our people to
maintain and build our reputation
by being fairly pragmatic about the
goals we set. They can be challenging, but they make sense; and our
people see that we can get a lot of
traction fairly quickly. For example, two years ago we decided that
in this environment, it is not enough
for our general managers to simply
wait for customers. Although our
managers are extremely busy and
have many things to do at their
properties on a daily basis, we
asked each of them to go out and
try to promote their properties in
their local market, to their own
level of competency. Simply put,
we wanted them to do some sales
calls, which is something they had
never done before. When we first
discussed that program, the reaction around the table was essentially, “There’s no way that will
work.” However, we replied,
Olivier Poirot ExecBlueprints 4

Olivier Poirot
CEO, Accor North America, Motel 6, and Studio 6

“Look, it’s not a question of do we
do it; it’s a question of how do
we do it.” Indeed, within 12 months
of rolling out our sales call program we had so many great personal success stories that we were
able to quickly turn around that
initial perception. We have generated several millions of dollars of
additional revenue as a direct consequence of this initiative. Ultimately, our managers discovered
that succeeding at sales calls is all
about overcoming your own fears
— and all it takes is one success,
which is going to feed the second
and the third. We always try to feed
on real success.

Challenges in Maintaining a
Good Corporate Reputation
The main challenge in maintaining
a good corporate reputation comes
down to the fact that people tend
to do a lot of things in a hotel
room, and some of those activities
can, unfortunately, end up in the
media. Again, having very strong

© Books24x7, 2010

(continued)

Expert Advice
In 2009 we made tremendous improvements from a cultural standpoint in terms
of understanding what it takes to manage a network of 1,000 locations across a
country such as the United States. We have a few locations outside of the U.S.,
but the bulk of our brand is in this country, and it takes a special kind of management to make sure that we maintain those properties so that they look fresh and
vibrant to our customers. The one aspect of the culture where we still have to
move the needle is in the area of operational consistency, and we are working on
that; this means that at any given time, 10 percent of the network is not complying
with our standard. We can do better than that, and in 2010 we are rolling out the
tools, training, and resources to help us be even more consistent.

brand recognition is both a blessing and a curse, because any time
something bad happens at one
property it sticks in the public’s
mind. There might be 10 other
hotel properties experiencing the
same issues, but since they are
lesser-known they are going to fly
under the radar.
Given the fact that we are a
nationwide brand means that every
time something happens at our
locations, it is going to be on the
public’s radar screen, and that
keeps us on our toes. Simply put,

we are extremely well-known;
therefore, any incident can easily
become blown out of proportion,
and our challenge is to overcome
that situation. While there is not
much we can do to deter media
attention during certain circumstances, it is important for us to
communicate, during these situations, our ongoing commitment to
collaborating with local authorities
and training of our own staff in
order to maintain the greatest possible level of health and safety at all
our properties. ■

Olivier Poirot ExecBlueprints 5

Thomas de Petra
President and CEO, Winland Electronics, Inc.

Beyond Maintaining:
Standing Out as a
Company
In a competitive and dynamic market space, merely maintaining your
company’s reputation is never good
enough, because it assumes little if
anything is changing in market
expectations or with competitors.
In fact, nothing could be further
than the truth, as new competitive
forces enter the field, long-term
market players reinvent themselves, and technology and economic factors constantly alter the
landscape.
To stand out above your competition takes research, planning, and
effort in two distinct areas: brand
awareness and development, and
analysis and refinement of your
value proposition. These are the
elements of business that will make
or break your strategy, because
they force you to manage and lead
from the outside in. Because your
customers’ needs are changing, you
must constantly analyze, monitor,
and adjust using this external perspective. Your corporate vision
statement must support and reinforce your brand development
efforts.

Understanding Your Brand
The first step in truly standing out
begins with understanding the characteristics of your brand. I do not
mean your logo and tagline, or the
look of your Web site and your
marketing materials. Your brand
also has nothing to do with what
you believe or what the collective
company thinks; it is instead defined
as how the public and all your
stakeholders view your company,
from both intellectual and emotional perspectives. Your brand is
© Books24x7, 2010

Your brand is the
essence of the first few
words people think of
when they think of
your company or
describe it.
Thomas de Petra
President and CEO
Winland Electronics, Inc.

the essence of the first few words
people think of when they think of
your company or describe it. Sometimes the most difficult part of
branding is getting to the truth, and
that starts with checking your ego
at the door and hiring a professional to conduct internal and
external surveys. Most people are
shocked when they discover how
divergent their survey answers are
from those of their external audiences. Only by understanding
where you are at the present time
can you know what you want your
brand to become and how to
accomplish it.

Understanding Your
Stakeholders
Purely from a revenue point of
view, your customers are your primary stakeholders. Yet the customer perspective is one-dimensional
and misses the critical relationships
you have with employees, investors, suppliers, lenders, the community, regulators, and influential
special interest groups. Every stakeholder type is vital to your success.
Loyal, engaged employees have
the heaviest routine impact on
company performance and on your
ability to implement strategy.
Other stakeholders are the most
influential in ensuring a steady

Thomas de Petra
President and CEO
Winland Electronics, Inc.

“In many ways, standing out means
standing apart from everyone in your
market space.”
• Elected Chairman of the Board of
Winland from 2006 through the end
of 2007 and member of board since
1994
• Founded Vantage Advisory Services,
De Petra and Associates, Inc., First
Financial Investor Relations, Inc., and
cofounded Micro Digest, Inc.
• Earned Political Science degree from
Loyola University
• Member of the National Association
of Corporate Directors (NACD)
Mr. de Petra can be e-mailed at
[email protected]

availability of top talent, as well as
in establishing reliable, long-term
supply chain relationships, maintaining liquidity, and staying in regulatory compliance.

Shaping Your Value
Proposition
Your value proposition and mission
statement are the fuel to make you
stand out from your competitors.
They define who you are and what
you do. Whether you operate in a
Thomas de Petra ExecBlueprints 6

Thomas de Petra
President and CEO, Winland Electronics, Inc.

narrow and specialized niche or a
crowded commodity market, customers must clearly understand
your value proposition in relation
to your peer group. There must
always be at least one distinguishable characteristic of your business,
whether it is a novel capability you
possess or an uncanny ability to
absolutely never miss a shipment
date. Because your value proposition must clearly align to what your
customers want, you need to continually check in with them through
surveys, quarterly business reviews,
or other relevant means.

Tailoring to Your
Customer’s Expectations
At a very minimum, small EMS
companies who want to be competitive must execute flawlessly to traditional customer metrics like
quality, delivery, and cost. Yet there
is also significant opportunity for

Expert Advice
In the field of electronic manufacturing services (EMS), my company’s market
space, one of fastest ways to damage a good reputation is to overemphasize a
particular capability and not be able to consistently deliver it. It is very risky and
expensive for a manufacturer to change or add an EMS supplier due to the underperformance of another supplier. Clawing your way out of a sub-par reputation
can take years, because manufacturing customers have long memories and tend
to maintain relationships with other manufacturers through professional associations. For that reason, if small EMS companies want to genuinely stand out, they
must go significantly further than any other competitor in the way they shape their
value proposition to their target customers.

those companies that focus on the
kind of relational equity that
can be built by managing the total
customer experience. This starts
with identifying the “personality”
characteristics of each of your customers. Some customers will demonstrate a desire to have frequent
engagement on subjects beyond the
current scope of the relationship.
Others may not want to see you
or hear from you outside of routine
transactional activities unless

Building Trust

Integrity

Candor

Reliability

© Books24x7, 2010

(continued)

there is an exception to the norm.
This is largely due to the left-brain/
right-brain hardwiring of the individuals themselves and the customer’s corporate culture. Regardless
of what kind of behavior customers demonstrate, sooner or later
each one will let you know where
they have pain.

Different Customers,
Different Responses
After changing or strengthening
virtually every system and process
a couple of years ago, we began
scoring customers through the full
range of a behavior scale. With one
customer in particular, we discovered that our primary focus needed
to be on customer metrics, reporting, and data delivery that went
beyond their expectations. With
this customer’s extreme left-brain
orientation, there was not much
emphasis, if any, on feelings or attitudes; data trumped everything else
when it came to that customer’s
experience. Urgency was another
key expectation, and it was a corporate attribute that was evident in
everything we experienced from
this customer. We differentiated
ourselves with an unparalleled service level through the reliable delivery of products, data, and 100
Thomas de Petra ExecBlueprints 7

Thomas de Petra
President and CEO, Winland Electronics, Inc.

percent consistent behavior. Everything we did could be repeated
because of robust internal processes and our customer knew it.
We sought to continually “surprise
and delight” such customers in a
way that could remind them how
painful and risky it might be to
work with another EMS provider.
This particular customer has
rewarded us with request for quotation (RFQ) opportunities that
were unimaginable two years ago.
We have another customer, on
the other hand, that could not be
more opposite. Superior performance metrics were, and remain,

© Books24x7, 2010

every bit as important as for the
customer in the previous example.
However, in this case there is
a desire for continuous engagement
designed to mine new possibilities
supporting innovation and new
product development, as well as
preemptive new supply chain techniques intended to reduce product
line risk.

Learning What Is Important
to Your Company
In dealing with the two customers
I mentioned above, as well as
with others along the way, we

(continued)
recognized a few soft attributes
that are integral to prosperous,
long-term relationships. For us,
trust is the most important, with
its framework of integrity, reliability, and candor. How many business and personal relationships
have been impaired or destroyed
due to someone’s unwillingness to
present facts, even unpleasant
ones, when they counted? It is
critically important that we continually demonstrate objective
reasoning skills and business maturity, both as individuals and as
an organization. ■

Thomas de Petra ExecBlueprints 8

George E. Martin, Ph.D.
President, St. Edward’s University

Competition in the
Academy
In higher education, a university
doesn’t have a principal competitor
in the marketplace. It has many. In
every market, there are universities
of all sizes and stripes competing
for a finite number of potential students each year. Yet, each university offers a different kind of
educational experience, a different
mix of academic rigor, interaction

universities in the country. Now,
we plan to build on our vision.

Staying Competitive in the
Future
The driving principles that guided
our strategic plan and helped us
achieve such national recognition
provide a useful model as we set
new goals and address new challenges. These driving principles —

In short, the university that successfully defines
its distinctive niche in the market stands out.
George E. Martin, Ph.D.
President
St. Edward’s University

with faculty, values emphasized in
the curriculum, and opportunities
available outside the classroom. In
that sense, one of the primary jobs
of a university is to match its educational experience with students
who will thrive in its unique learning environment. In short, the university that successfully defines its
distinctive niche in the market
stands out.
This lesson applies beyond the
halls of higher education. Share
your story — what makes you
unique — and customers, both
young and old, will be drawn to
what you have to offer. Also focus
on quality: achieve excellence
through strategic planning, manage
growth and resources carefully, and
remain committed to your institution’s core values, such as diversity
and ethics. You will stand out
among your peers. St. Edward’s
University has done just that over
the course of the last 10 years,
accomplishing its vision to be recognized as one of the best small

© Books24x7, 2010

excellence through vision and
mission, managed growth, and a
confluence of energies — create
a powerful cultural dynamic that
ensures success. We will grow not
for growth’s sake, but to provide
more students with the opportunity
to experience a personalized St.
Edward’s education with its emphasis on thinking critically, clarifying
personal values, and promoting
social justice. As we look to the
future, we will also look to these
values, which have guided the university since its founding by the
Congregation of Holy Cross 125
years ago. And we will continue to
emphasize collaboration, breaking
down the silos that often exist
between units and creating a confluence of energies that opens
doors to opportunities otherwise
not possible.
These driving principles are
fundamental to the strategic plan
we are drafting for 2015. In the
next six years, we will work
toward achieving excellence as an

George E. Martin, Ph.D.
President
St. Edward’s University

“A St. Edward’s education is more
than the accumulation of knowledge —
it is using knowledge to implement
positive changes in the community, the
workplace, and the world.”
• President of St. Edward’s University
since 1999
• Chair of the Independent Colleges
and Universities of Texas and chairelect of the Council of Independent
Colleges
• Holds a bachelor’s degree in Political
Science from St. John’s University
• Earned master’s and doctoral
degrees in Political Science from
Fordham University
Mr. Martin can be e-mailed at
[email protected]

international university with educational partners and exceptional
academic opportunities around the
world. Already, we have established a portal campus in France
where we have collaborated with
the governments of Angers and
Anjou, the Université Catholique
de l’Ouest, and the Institut BoisRobert. We have even partnered
with Apple® in France to incorporate new technology into research
projects being conducted by our
students. With the successful launch
George E. Martin, Ph.D. ExecBlueprints 9

George E. Martin, Ph.D.
(continued)

President, St. Edward’s University

of our campus in France, we are
developing similar educational
partnerships in Scotland, Asia, and
the Middle East.
We believe that this global
emphasis is going to make St.
Edward’s University the destination
school for students who want that
kind of experience. We anticipate
an increasingly large number of
students within the United States
who value an international education, as well as a strong market
abroad for students who want to
pursue higher education in America. The skills gained from this
invaluable international experience
will translate unequivocally to the
real world once students graduate.
Thus, the idea of being “global”
becomes another distinction,
another value added to the educational experience at St. Edward’s.

Projecting a Positive Image
To continue to stand out among
our peers and achieve success
with our strategic plan, we must
remember that we offer not just
an education, but a very distinctive
educational experience. When I
talk to alumni, whether they graduated 50 years ago or five years
ago, they all tell me that St.
Edward’s University changed their
lives. It helped them discover who
they are, what they stand for, and
what they are able to give to the
world through their talent.
We have quantitatively seen the
impact of this transformation in
the university’s rising retention and
graduation rates. Both are well
above the national average. We
have also heard from our own students through the National Survey
of Student Engagement, in which
they consistently rank us above the
© Books24x7, 2010

Driving Principles of St. Edwards

Confluence
of Energies

Managed Growth

Excellence Through Vision and Mission

national average in every category.
This response is a direct result of
our approach to education. Because
we place a high value on the individual person, we give each student
a greater sense of self-value. With
that comes a greater sense of selfconfidence, awareness of the world
around them, and the ability to
lead with integrity.

Benchmarking Reputation
We can determine how successfully we are communicating this
message by benchmarking our

efforts. In the traditional measures
for higher education, St. Edward’s
ranks well. We have made U.S.
News & World Report’s annual list
since 2003, are included among the
Princeton Review’s “Best Western
Colleges,” and in just one year
jumped 149 slots in Forbes’ annual
rankings. Yet, we also look to less
traditional measures to evaluate the
job we are doing. The New York
Times, for example, has recognized
our commitment to diversity by
naming us to its “colleges of
many colors” list and the Princeton
Review has called us one of 81

George E. Martin, Ph.D. ExecBlueprints 10

George E. Martin, Ph.D.
(continued)

President, St. Edward’s University

“colleges with a conscience” in
honor of our commitment to social
justice.
We couple these accolades with
market research and customer satisfaction surveys, examining everything from the effectiveness of our
internal and external communication strategies to what value proposition resonate most clearly with
prospective students and parents.
In addition, we monitor student
satisfaction, retention, and graduation rates, as I mentioned earlier,
to determine how well we are serving our students. Finally, we look
at our fundraising levels to see how
well our vision resonates with
stakeholders, including the record
9,500 donors who contributed $70
million to our most recent campaign and national nonprofits like
the Kellogg and Keck foundations
that provide grants and scholarships in support of our students
and faculty.

© Books24x7, 2010

Expert Advice
The key to staying competitive is continuing to think strategically. Our most recent
strategic plan emphasized seven priorities, including increasing enrollment, providing exceptional student experiences, and enhancing facilities and technology.
Since we began this plan in 1999, we have more than doubled the size of our
freshman class. At the same time, our average freshman SAT score has risen
almost 100 points. We have also increased the size of our faculty to ensure that
our student-faculty ratio remains at a low 14:1 and added 43 new academic
programs. And we have invested almost $150 million in capital projects to add
11 new facilities to campus and renovate six others. These strategic successes
have brought national recognition. Ten years ago, for example, we were unranked
in U.S. News and World Report’s annual list of “America’s Best Colleges.” Now,
we rank 21st in our region and have been selected by our peers as one of five
up-and-coming institutions in the West.

This collective set of data from a
variety of benchmarking measures
indicates the level at which we are
meeting the strategic goals we have
outlined. In short, how well are we
doing what we set out to do? These
data points, of course, are unique to
St. Edward’s. You will have your
own benchmarks, your own driving
principles, your own institutional

values to guide your quest to stand
out in an increasingly complex and
competitive market. Take the time
to think critically about each area.
Dedicate the resources to creating a
strategic plan for the future — and
make sure that plan guides the work
you do every day. ■

George E. Martin, Ph.D. ExecBlueprints 11

Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points
I. The Challenge of Building
and Maintaining Your
Reputation in a Crowded
Market
Even a strong brand must continue
to build and grow. The needs of the
market and your customers are constantly changing, make sure you are
keeping track and giving them what
they want. The best ways to stand
apart from the crowd are to:
• Maintain a strong reputation. If
it is merely good, make it great.
If it is great, make it excellent.
• Build your fan base. Use social
media to allow customers to
share their experiences.
• Highlight your uniqueness. Offer
people something they have not
seen before.
• Focus on quality. Customers
want the best, so make sure you
are able to give it to them.
You cannot simply change your
reputation overnight. It takes research,
planning, and a lot of effort. Before
you overhaul your entire brand, make
sure you:
• Have brand awareness and
development
• Analyze and refine your value
proposition

• Are your customers happy? Are
your stakeholders? Are your
employees? All three are influential in building your reputation.
• Being unique is a good thing.
Emphasize what you have that
others do not. But don’t grow
for growth’s sake – make sure it
is organic to the company.
• Name recognition isn’t good
enough, make sure the best
aspects of your product are wellknown, not the worst.

III. Must-Haves for Staying
Competitive
Whatever your company offers, the
experience of receiving it is part of
the product. A bad experience will
tarnish the product and a good experience will highlight it. In order to
give your customer’s the best experience every time, you should:
• Cultivate good corporate
citizenship

In order to ensure that you are not
thought of as a cookie-cutter company, do not try to thrust your customers into cookie-cutter solutions.
Build a relationship with each customer to help you manage their total
experience. Long-term relationships
are essential and the more trust and
knowledge you build, the easier it
will be to overcome problems and
weather public relations storms. To
do this you should:
• Engage the customer. Call
prospective clients to find out
what it would take to earn their
business.
• Tailor customer expectations.
Nothing ruins a relationship
faster than over-promising and
under-delivering.

• Open a dialogue with local
authorities, companies, and
charities

• Manage customer relationships.
One customer might expect daily
interaction; another might only
want to hear from you if a problem occurs. Learn what they
expect and then give it to them.

• Give back through volunteer
efforts

V. Essential Take-Aways

• Encourage diversity

• Think strategically

• Minimize your impact on the
environment

• Carefully manage growth and
resources

• Cultivate good corporate
reputation

• Follow your core values

• Set challenging, yet manageable
goals

II. The Bottom Line

• Feed on prior success

Your brand is not just your logo
or the colors of your marketing
materials. Your brand covers your
intellectual and emotional value in
the market. Find out how you are
perceived both internally and
externally.

• Benchmark your efforts

© Books24x7, 2010

IV. The Golden Rules
for Rising Above the
Competition

The only way you can find out what
people think of you is to ask them.
Use benchmarking to determine how
successful you are able to convey
your message. Only through constant
communication with current customers will you be able to uncover what
works and what doesn’t. Without
this interaction, you will never be
able to fix current problems or create
future solutions. ■

• Project a positive image
• Emphasize your successes
• Avoid damaging your reputation
• Create a clear value proposition
and follow through on it
Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points ExecBlueprints 12

Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points

(continued)

?
10 KEY QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION POINTS
1

What is your company’s current reputation with your customers and the public at large?
How does it differ between these two groups? How has it changed in the past five
years? In what areas do you seek to improve your company’s reputation?

2

What admirable traits has your company recently developed? Who or what
circumstances were responsible for their emergence? What impact has this perception
had on the growth and profitability of your company?

3

What are 10 defining characteristics of your company’s culture? How would this list
vary across department, division, or location? From the public’s perspective, how do
they contribute — or not — to a positive company reputation?

4

What are your best practices for cultivating good corporate citizenship? What role do
company leadership and shareholders play? Company employees? Your PR
department?

5

What trends are occurring in your industry and/or community that may affect your
company’s reputation in the next 12 months? In what ways are they positive? In what
ways are they challenging? How do you plan to respond to them?

6

What are your best practices for transforming a damaged or indifferent reputation?
Who do you involve in these instances?

7

In the next 12 months, do you plan to launch any major philanthropic or communitybuilding efforts? Why are they being developed at this time? How could they potentially
impact your company’s reputation?

8

How do you motivate your employees to project a positive image of your company in
the course of their work with customers and the community? What role do management
practices play? Which practices have proven especially effective?

9

What are the top three challenges your company faces in maintaining its good
reputation? How have these challenges changed in the past five years?

10

How do you benchmark efforts to maintain and/or improve your company’s reputation?
Against its past reputation? Against that of other companies in the industry? Against
that of other companies in the community?

ExecBlueprints is a subscription-based offering from Books24x7, a SkillSoft Company. For more information on subscribing,
please visit www.books24x7.com.

© Books24x7, 2010

Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points ExecBlueprints 13

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