Stauffers of Kissel Hill rebranding a triumph (and for good reason)

by Gale Martin, Director of Marketing and Development, S. Dale High Center for Family Business at Elizabethtown College

Last week, one of our Center members, Stauffers of Kissel Hill, detailed their rebranding process at a Breakfast Seminar, an event at the heart of our programming for members, and the last of the 2010-11 series.

Just prior to Stauffers sharing their case, brand expert Kae G. Wagner, president of North Star Marketing, shared the following slide, the Adizes Organizational Lifecycle:

During the case study presented by Stauffers' principals, COO Jere Stauffer and Marketing and Branding Director Debi Drescher, marked their own status on the Lifecycle graph Kae presented as somewhere between "recrimination" and "entrenched bureaucracy."

Stauffers of Kissel Hill's humble origins
as a roadside stand

Following a site visit and no-holds-barred critique from a peer group within the garden center industry, the Stauffers' ownership team knew they needed to change and that they needed to put a plan in place to accommodate wholesale change.

For a family owned and operated business to admit that strategic improvements were necessary to remain competitive is a feat in itself. One reason family businesses succeed against daunting odds is the deep pride owners take in the business. Such extreme pride can make it hard for family business leaders to hear any criticism--period.



Their customer- and quality-focus were hampered
by an outdated look. (Before rebranding)

Eight years ago, Stauffers launched a branding campaign that succeeded, owing to strong personal values that informed their corporate values, a desire to put the health of the business ahead of personal agendas, and sheer pluck and determination.

Listening to and processing feedback

Jere Stauffer mentioned that industry peers gave the ownership team pages and pages of criticisms to chew on. Both the ownership group and the executive management team put their own fears of being criticized aside, which allowed them to really hear the recommendations made, take them into account, see patterns in the various critiques, and emerge with a prioritized list. That's no easy task, listening to critical feedback about the business that you parents or grandparents founded, a business in which most of these folks grew up.

Working toward consensus and a common goal

While everyone charged with rebranding Stauffers of Kissel Hill had their own ideas and opinions about what the new brand should look and feel like, eventually consensus had to be reached to allow the company to move forward. For some, that meant their favorite design or brand tenet wasn't selected. With so many stakeholders involved and no single stakeholder possessing the equivalent of the line-item veto, it is worth repeating that gaining consensus was no easy task. More than one family business has been thwarted at this stage because individual egos loomed larger than the overarching desire to see the family business succeed. Ultimately, Stauffers' stakeholders kept the bigger picture in focus, subordinating personal agendas.

Perseverance



A display from the newly rebranded garden center

 Across eight locations in Central Pennsylvania, reaching hundreds of employees at every operational level, spanning five years and counting, including the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, Stauffers of Kissel Hill demonstrated the perseverance necessary to successfully roll out a new brand.

"Everybody was on board," Mike McGrann, executive director of the High Center said. "This allowed them to be truly systematic in their roll out, across all aspects of their business. Every manager and every employee was made part of their rebranding."



The new Stauffers of Kissel Hill Rohrerstown store!

In rebranding themselves, Stauffers of Kissel Hill engaged in an awe-inspiring process that other family businesses can learn from and realized jaw-dropping results.

Congratulations, Stauffers of Kissel Hill, and best wishes for continued success!

For more information about Kae G. Wagner's brand presentation, see this post by Scott Heintzelman, the Exuberant Accountant.