Ever tried to fill a tub, using a sink faucet?

So, Maintenance, at my apartment complex, replaced my leaking tub faucet with a sink faucet…yes you read that right.

Now it takes about an hour to fill the tub enough for a nice, hot bath. 

And, while I was impatiently waiting for the tub to fill, hoping the water would actually stay hot the whole time, a thought occurred to me: 

When you’re not unlocking the full potential of your business, it’s a lot like trying to fill a tub using a sink faucet. 

The water is coming, little by little, and you could maybe call it a trickle. 

Eventually the tub will fill, but you have no idea what the quality of water (hot vs lukewarm) will be, and you’re playing the waiting game. 

Whereas if you’ve unlocked the full potential of your business, it’s more like an actual tub faucet filling the tub (and the tub is one of those fancy ones, with the jacuzzi jets—you know the one I’m talking about!) 

The water is flowing and you are enjoying a relaxing, hot, steaming bath. And the best part is, if you were to drain the tub, when you turn the faucet back on again, it fills the tub quickly, efficiently, and you’re back to enjoying that quality “me-time”. 

At this point you might be thinking, “Jordan…where is this metaphor going?” 

Here's my thought:

The water is new business- consistent quality business at that- and the tub is your organization. 

The faucet, the thing that gets the water pumping into the tub (or at least I think so, I’m not a plumber…) is what determines the quality of the bath, or the quality of the business coming into your organization. 

Consistent, powerful, and HOT vs a trickle, timely, lukewarm experience. 

What makes the difference in those experiences? For me, right now, it’s the faucet that maintenance put in, which, I believe, is a perfect symbol for your brand, and the materials that come from a strong, fully realized brand: the materials you have to market, sell, and talk about what it is you do. 

Whether that be marketing materials, sales collateral, or items to fuel your employee acquisition/retention goals – if you have a strong brand, these materials should be consistently available. 

If you have a great brand in place, it’s like that powerful tub faucet and the jacuzzi jets at the same time: things are moving and the experience is fantastic: 

Your brand is set, your website is attractive, your digital strategy is keeping you top of mind, and your marketing and sales team have EVERYTHING they need to keep that water turned all the way on. 

The key is that the brand infrastructure (the faucet) is there and the tub consistently is filled, and even after it’s drained, it can be filled again, with the same expectations. 

Without a strong brand (you probably guessed it), you’re stuck trying to fill a bath tub with a facet meant for a sink.