Coming up on 2 ½ years of official partnering together, Darrell Crawford, founding partner of The Vantage Group, and I decided it was time to make some intentional changes around our branding and messaging with the goal of clarity being our main driver.
Like many organizations these last few years, living through a global pandemic helped us see our business differently. We were fortunate enough to have a diversified client base that allowed our business to still thrive and come through the trials of a pandemic successfully. With that said, we used the unique learnings of the last 2 years to shape our focus for the future. We have unified around what we do, defined our 3 pillars of work, and committed to making it clearer for our current and prospective clients going forward.
So you may be wondering…what have we done and why?
WALKING THE WALK – CLARIFYING OUR 5 V’s
Since the Vantage Group’s inception almost 30 years ago, our company has evolved. As a growing business we felt it was time to look at our 5 V’s and ensure we were aligned, they were clear and we were focused on building our business around them. If you aren’t familiar with the 5 V’s, this is something we work with our clients on through part of our The Prioritized Leader (TPL) leadership development program. The first two of the 5 V’s stand for: Vision and Values. These are commonly talked about aspects of business. When vision and values are clear… compelling growth and impact are unlimited. But, when vision and values are confusing or ambiguous, organizations will struggle to make meaningful progress. The next 3 V’s, however, are less commonly discussed but critical to a flourishing organization. Those 3 V’s are:
- Vehicles: Actual products and services you create for your customers.
- Vocabulary: Brings clarity, alignment and consistency to your communication.
- Valuation: Method used to measure various aspects of company growth.
When all five are in place, clearly defined, and you are operating in and through them, you have a flourishing business. When one or more is missing… as you can see below, you have less than optimal results.
For us at The Vantage Group, we wanted to ensure our 5 V’s were clear, concise and guiding our growth strategies.
VISION AND VALUES – LOGO AND TAGLINE REFRESH
When I joined The Vantage Group, Darrell and I spent a LOT of time discussing the vision and values of the organization, as they stood for nearly 30 years prior. This was vitally important to both of us in considering the legacy that had been built in addition to the future we were yet to build. Having made some minor adjustments to wording, at that point, we knew we were aligned and excited to build into the future together. Yet, as we took this intentional look at our 5 V’s today, we felt there was something still not quite right and we were ready to make changes. This change was subtle and yet distinct. We knew we needed to give our logo and tagline an intentional face lift.
LOGO
Our prior logo had a heavier font that some would say felt more masculine in tone and honestly, had become outdated. With my coming on board and Darrell and I having the collective goal of moving The Vantage Group into a WOSB (Women Owned Small Business) status over time, we felt there was an opportunity to lighten the font while staying true to the longstanding legacy that built The Vantage Group to what we are today.
TAGLINE
We didn’t stop there, however. We then turned our attention to the tagline. Formerly stated as “Fast Track Results. High Performance Teams.” Both statements are true today in our work but felt less pointed in describing WHAT we do. After lots of thought, challenging conversations and white-boarding, we landed on two simple statements. “Equipping Leaders. Unlocking Outcomes.” This truly is what we do. We equip leaders with the right tools and processes needed to objectively unlock the desired outcomes in their teams and business day in and day out.
Together, these changes have made a subtle but impactful difference in showcasing who The Vantage Group is today and what you can count on us being for you in the future.
Former Logo and Tagline
New Logo and Tagline
VEHICLES AND VOCABULARY – CLEAR AND INTERACTIVE MESSAGING
Next, we took the time to work through our pillars of work, AKA our Vehicles and Vocabulary. As a small but nimble company, with high performing generalists and specialists on our team, we have been able to be a lot of things to a lot of businesses in a lot of industries for a long time. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however, it can make it confusing to the market on “when” the right time is to come to us for the services we provide. We needed to tighten our messaging to be clear on what our vehicles are and how we will consistently talk about them internally and externally. While holding ourselves true to defining our V’s, it quickly became clear that we offer services in 3 key categories:
- Talent Management + Optimization
- Equipping Leaders (Leadership Development)
- Unlocking Outcomes (Strategic Planning and Stages of Growth)
This determination led us to rework our website and to invest in interactive messaging to help tell the story of what falls into each of these buckets. This led us to engage with a graphic designer to build succinct messaging that leveraged our vocabulary with undertones of our vision and values laced through in meaningful ways. Maybe you have seen some of these messages out on LinkedIn or our Instagram account we have slowly been building. Take a look…
VALUATION – THE ONGOING JOURNEY OF SUCCESS
With the first 4 V’s of Vision, Values, Vehicles and Vocabulary clearer than ever, we have been able to build our growth plans within each of our vehicles with more intentionality than ever before. With this new clarity to our work, we are focused on what we say “Yes” to and when the risk of scope creep warrants us to refer you on to someone else. This is an ongoing journey and one that we continue to watch, evaluate and adjust as we lean into them more.
If success in working through the 5V’s can be measured, then we can say the numbers of leaders and organizations we have touched and worked with this past year has almost doubled. Currently, we are helping 100’s of leaders improve their leadership skills, while working with over 25 companies across a multitude of industries in the United States.
Our work isn’t done as we continue to clarify our purpose to the marketplace, but we hope it feels clearer than ever on when and where The Vantage Group is the right partner for you. We feel privileged to do what we do each day as we work with amazing organizations across North America, in varied stages of growth and industries. Equipping Leaders. Unlocking Outcomes. It’s what we do…and we are great at it!
Are you ready to clarify your purpose and strengthen your organization’s 5 V’s? Contact us today about how we can help!