On the first day of the SGIA Expo, I attended the FP3: Functional Printing, Process & Products Luncheon, featuring keynote speaker Colby Jubenville, Ph.D. The author and raconteur’s presentation “Personal Brands and Personal Relationships: Business is Personal” engaged attendees with questions about how to build client relationships and perceptions of a brand’s value.
Why is this critical for businesses? Customers pay for their perception of value — not a company’s time, and adding that personal level when creating customer relationships builds valued trust. In turn, Dr. Jubenville said businesses need to understand the foundations of trust derive from customer vulnerability and the human desire for safety. Trust in a brand is a gut feeling based on its performance and is a known quantity that results in customer perception of value.
He further advised the audience to communicate their messages with emotion — the primary basis on which people make decisions. Noting that “the things we think and do — not say — are the future of our business,” he suggested we imagine how we want our customers to feel. In other words, innovation for businesses means deferring to customers, thinking and saying to them, “You go first.”
These concepts leave business owners and managers with much to consider in their approaches not just with customers, but with their employees. Dr. Jubenville pointed out that leaders in life and business accept responsibility in making decisions and solving problems. He related his own transition to accepting responsibility for his life with the guidance of his football coach at Millsaps College, Tommy Ranager. 
“More than any one group, coaches have impacted my life by providing opportunities to help me find my unique voice. By modeling leadership in this way, they teach their players how to close execution gaps and ultimately create cultures that give birth to the potential of people,” said Dr. Jubenville. Coach Ranager challenged him to perform and improve, and he recalled a life-changing meeting they had at a Waffle House, where Ranager told him, “I’m here to help you take the next step.” That next step was a six-month process of struggles, but in the context of trusted guidance, agreed upon reality and future goals. It’s a process Dr. Jubenville indicated continues to guide him in making his own ethical “good-to-great” choices and setting values for himself and organizations.
He wrapped up his talk with a few guiding thoughts about brands and a story:
- A brand is a promise that is delivered in experience
- The process of getting feedback is where you learn the most
- Adversity can accelerate growth
- Personal brands carry meaning
Dr. Jubenville concluded by sharing why Discount Tire in his home city of Nashville has earned his loyal patronage. He relishes the fact that when he pulls into the company’s lot, an employee immediately runs to his car to help him. The commitment to personal, responsive service that Discount Tire demonstrates time and again has won its brand his ongoing business.
It’s difficult to fully capture the valuable points and interactive experience Dr. Jubenville provided the FP3 Luncheon audience. If you missed this opportunity, you can find him at the 2019 FP3 Conference (May 5–7; Itasca, Illinois), where he will lead a workshop for CEOs.
