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Who is wearing your brand and how do they represent that brand?

We all think it would be great to have a truck with our brand on it right? That truck could drive all over town advertising for us. But, what if the person driving that truck pissed people off by being a jerk?

How will that affect your company name?

I mean if they only made 1 person mad then what is loosing 1 potential customer when there are thousands of others that have no idea your driver is a jerk – no big deal right?

Here is the story of my morning and why I am posting this –

While sitting on my porch this morning a man was standing out by the main road. In a few minutes a utility truck pulled over on the side of the road to pick him up. I would guess that since the truck had a company name painted in big letters on it that they were heading off to work.

As soon as the passenger door was opened a bunch of trash started falling out the door, the driver proceeded to shove out even more garbage onto the ground so the passenger could get in.

Before the passenger got in, he bent over (I thought for sure to pick up the trash) and pulled a couple of papers out of the trash pile, then jumped in the truck and they drove off. Yes, they are being good employees hurrying to work.

The problem is that the truck said Larkin Plumbing big enough that I could read it. Since I will likely be one that has to pick up this crap because it blows in my yard, I came in and called the company and told them what happened. The man on the phone did not seem worried about my complaint but, did take my name and number.

Yes, I gave him my name and number so, they could call back if need be to get the right location of their garbage pile.

I called them around 7 am ish, it is now 4pm and the trash pile is still out there (well, what hasn’t blown down the street).

This little story of trash is to remind you that –

Having people represent, advertise, or work for you is great if they are a good example of your work ethics!

We do not live in the land of ‘mom and pop tells their neighbor’. We live in an age when news travels fast and far.

To many companies feel that loosing 1 person is no big deal, there are millions of other potential customers out there but, I am also willing to bet that if a company has that attitude, there is whole line of people that are in the pissed off category.

Just think if this was someone complaining about your brand on the internet.

If your affiliates are spammers and someone complains do you take action?

What could a competitor’s webmaster do if they got a hold of a complaint about your brand? Oh yeah, throw in some SEO and out rank you with a complaint!

Do you have rules for your affiliates or team members?

Do you have a plan of action when one of them screws up?

What about others that are affiliates just like you and are promoting the same brand, what if they are messing up? If it is going to label all the affiliates (including you) as jerks do you expect the company to straighten it out?

Just a little Food for Thought!

Sheryl Loch