Stretch the Limits

Values can work in concert with other brand attributes to enable great decisions, creativity and higher-quality products or services. They can free employees from the need to follow rigid rules. They offer flexible guidelines that allow employees to make on-brand decisions for the company.

Finally, a company with clearly defined, clearly practiced values will attract employees with those same values. If a company demonstrates innovation as a value, it will attract and encourage employees who are innovative. If a company prizes "taking responsibility," it can screen job candidates for the attribute.

REI, a national outdoor clothing and sports equipment retailer, has kept its values for more than 60 years. What started as a customer-owned co-op for climbers seeking higher-quality climbing gear has expanded to more than 1.5 million members.

Among REI's values are quality and service. To REI, quality means creating long-lasting, high-performance products. Customers say they appreciate REI's service and that they seek out the employees they dealt with previously when they make subsequent visits.

Although each REI employee receives standard customer training, the company focuses on continual new-product training. Not only are employees knowledgeable about products, they are active in the outdoors. They share their customers' interests.

Apply Values Online

The key to business success is customer retention. Values can play a major role in this by helping your company differentiate its site from the competition's. Effective use of values involves taking advantage of the Internet.

REI uses e-mail feedback to improve its products. The company's educational approach has been transferred to the Internet through the Learn & Share section of its Web site.

In Learn & Share, users can find specific information on how to use all the sports equipment REI carries and how to find the right piece of equipment. News about clinics, group activities and community forums is on the Web site.

Drs. Foster and Smith, a Wisconsin veterinary supply company, has a stated value of "helping pets get the care they need." The company does this by developing and offering its products directly to the customer; this makes veterinary supplies more affordable by eliminating the middleman.

To Be Great, Innovate

Online commerce can help a brand fulfill its values to society. Interface, an Atlanta, Ga., carpet manufacturer, was concerned about the environmental impact of the 255,000 sample orders it sent out every year in the United States.

The company designed an innovative online order and return program whereby customers can go to its Web site to order samples. This move significantly reduced the waste involved in sending unsolicited samples. Interface now sends a reusable mailing box with a postage-paid label with the samples for returns.

Living your brand values online can differentiate your product or service in a way that creates long-term customer loyalty. This is true whether your values are strictly business-based, such as offering affordable products or a high level of customer service, or are loftier, good-for-society values, such as protecting the environment.