Tag: human resources

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Customer service Musings

Go Figure!

OK, so it’s not a perfect world. Even in successful, customer-centric organizations there are still pockets of staff who don’t recognize or respect their internal customers.  It’s hard to believe, though, how certain areas can get away with this.

One of my colleagues works for a company that is part of a larger organization.  When we met recently, she shared her frustration about a particular (more like peculiar) department in the parent company. In dealing with some of the staff there, her requests for assistance are typically met with one of three responses.  “Sometimes we’re mildly ignored, ” she told me, “and other times we’re barely tolerated or just dismissed.”

We pondered this situation over lunch, including various efforts to bring it to management’s attention at the parent company (to no avail).  And we concluded that it’s just one of corporate life’s little mysteries.

The good news is the rest of the organization is genuinely committed to customer satisfaction.  And the even better news is my colleague and her associates don’t let this one department affect how they treat their own internal (& external) customers.  Way to go!

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Engagement Marketing

Internal Marketing & Unemployment (or Buddy, Can You Spare a Job?)

Continuing the HR theme of my recent posts, I have several HR books in my library on employee recruitment & retention:

These were written just a few years ago (2000-2002) for a tight labor market when companies were scrambling to find & keep good employees (aka “talent”).  And internal marketing went hand-in-hand as a strategic tool for employee retention.

But what about now?

With today’s high unemployment, many firms are back to viewing employees as commodities … the attitude is “We don’t care as much about keeping you happy since you’re lucky to have a job!”  So is internal marketing still relevant?

Absolutely!  In our current economy, even though they’re not “competing” for employees, managers still need to be concerned with their care.  Why?  Because unemployment means reduced consumer spending — when fewer people are working, they spend less — which also means companies have to work harder to compete for customers.  And to attract and retain customers, you need trained & motivated staff (hello internal marketing!)

Internal marketing is more than just making employees feel appreciated … it’s also about making customers feel appreciated.  And no manager can afford to take that for granted, regardless of the labor market situation.

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Engagement Marketing

Human Resources Takes a Hit

“Why We Hate HR” is the cover story of this month’s Fast Company, and it’s brutal.  To all those in HR, I feel your pain.

In all honesty, some of the criticisms sound familiar: not having a strategic seat at the table, having your budget be among the first to get cut, and at-risk for being outsourced because you can’t easily demonstrate your function’s value or ROI, etc.  I’ve heard this before at numerous conferences for professionals in market research and marketing.  So I empathize.

Why Marketing Had to Step In

At the same time, I have to admit that one of the reasons I became involved with internal marketing was because of HR’s lack of effectiveness.  I learned to apply marketing to proactively communicate with, educate, and motivate employees to take care of customers (in more of a management strategy than a pure marketing function).

“What about HR?” people would ask me.  “Aren’t you superseding your authority by getting involved with employees?”

In my experience in banking (earlier in my career), as mergers proliferated I saw HR downsized (along with the rest of us in “staff” functions) to become a hiring/firing, payroll/benefits shop.  In the process many employees were alienated, yet still expected to provide high levels of customer satisfaction.

I saw this trend in the erosion of HR’s employee-relations function happen in other industries.  So I continued to advocate for internal marketing with its focus on the value of employees and the customers they serve.

Employees as “Assets” … Reality or Lip-Service?

To be fair, the situation isn’t always HR’s fault.  It all comes down to leadership and the culture it creates.  Where leadership is lacking, those responsible for internal marketing need to involve HR, Operations, Administration, IT, and other internal allies.

Employee relations, like customer service, shouldn’t be limited to one department or function … It’s every manager’s responsibility.

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Customer service Engagement Marketing

Organizational Culture: Internal Customers (Part 3)

As mentioned in my last post, overall job satisfaction is affected by an employee’s relationships with managers & co-workers. And the quality of these relationships trickles down to the bottom line – you can’t build strong external (customer) relationships without strong internal (customer) relationships.

That’s why internal marketing considers employees “internal customers.” When employees take care of each others’ business service needs, they tend to do even better for customers.  In other words, internal customer service drives external customer services.

Who’s your customer?

Too often, customer relations training is focused only on staff with direct customer contact. But it applies to everyone – Purchasing has its internal customers; so does Human Resources, Information Systems, Operations, etc.

Think of it this way: if you’re not serving the ultimate customer (those who purchase your firm’s offerings), you’re serving someone who is … for example, the sales staff, customer service rep, call center staff, delivery person, store manager, etc.

To what extent does your organization acknowledge and serve its “internal customers?”

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Engagement Marketing

Organizational Culture: Assessment (Part 2)

My last post dealt with workplace courtesy and respect as part of organizational culture.

It reminds me of the time when I was fairly new to the working world. I remember hearing whispered references about certain managers and the sympathy given to new staff assigned to them:  “Too bad you have to work for that caustic s-o-b.”

This was the guy who would walk into the department without acknowledging anyone – no smile, no greeting – sharing only a scowl. Didn’t matter whether he passed one of his staff members, or a co-worker, or higher-up in the hallway (at least he was an equal opportunity s-o-b).

Maybe you’ve had the unfortunate experience to work with such a person, or know someone who has. So it should come as no surprise that research shows relationships with managers & co-workers impact overall job satisfaction.

The magic question

To assess the quality of your organization’s culture, all you need to do is ask one simple question: Would you refer a friend to work here?  It’s a loaded question, to be sure, but one whose answer will give you incredible insight into your firm’s culture.

More coming up in my next post …

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Engagement Marketing

Internal Marketing’s Voice – What Are You Saying? (Continued)

As a follow up to my last post, I wanted to address the question: how do you project a positive voice to the customer?

Before I get into the answer, let’s start with why it’s important to have a positive voice. Whether you’re communicating through a company blog, corporate newsletter, or face-to-face time with employees, customers can tell the tone of your company’s “voice.”

Customers (like employees) have this incredible, innate sense to cut through the customer-focus BS/rhetoric* to know whether or not you genuinely care about them. *Please note: it’s only BS/rhetoric if it’s lip-service and not a true part of your organization’s culture.  And therein lies the secret.

A company that values both its customers AND the employees who serve them creates a transparent culture. How employees are treated translates into the way customers are treated … and this sends a strong message about your organization.

So projecting a positive voice stems from internal marketing and comes from within – from leaders who are truly customer- and employee-focused.

What message is your organization sending?

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Customer service Engagement Marketing

Internal Marketing’s Critical Connections (Part 3 – continued)

When connecting employees with customers, it’s important to focus on ALL employees, not just those with customer contact who are usually the recipients of most customer-focused training.

So, how do you make this connection with non-contact employees?

A great example is Celestial Seasonings, the herbal tea company.  They created a composite of their typical consumer and personified her  —  she’s known as “Tracy Jones.”  When staff consider product or packaging changes, they ask” What would Tracy Jones think?  How will this affect her?”

Here are some other ways to link non-contact staff and customers:

  • Visit customers — send non-contact employees to accompany sales reps or business development staff when they call on customers.  Let them see and hear “the voice of the customer” up close & personal.
  • Ambassador program — at one of the former Bell telecomm companies, non-sales employees volunteered to serve as “ambassadors.”  They visited customers on a quarterly basis to check in on how the customers were doing … to let them know the company cared about them.
  • Adopt-a-Customer — a professional association with chapters across the country used a variation of this in their “adopt-a-member” program.  Association headquarters staff (e.g., in accounting, membership, information services, the mail room, etc.) adopted chapters and were placed on their contact lists.  Staff then received information on their adopted chapter’s programs, membership changes, publicity, etc. … to learn first-hand how the chapters served their association members.  And the chapters benefited by having a direct contact at the headquarters office.

The key is to find ways to make a tangible connection to customers, so your employees (regardless of their level of contact) will see them as real people, not just faceless names or account numbers.

Your customers will also benefit by being able to put a face or voice on their contact with your organization.

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Customer service Engagement Marketing

Internal Marketing’s Critical Connections (Part 3)

So far this posting series has focused on connecting employees to their organizations as well as within their organizations.  This week I’ll address the last of Internal Marketing’s Critical Connections — connecting employees with customers.

Customer-Focus is Key

It’s no secret that customers judge an organization and its brand by how well they’re treated by everyone in the organization they come in contact with.  When asked why consumers switched companies, one study found that nearly 70% left because they felt the attention they got from the company was poor or they hardly got any attention at all!

Connecting employees with customers — ensuring employees are customer-focused — is a key component of internal marketing.

What does being customer-focused really mean?

It’s understanding your customers (including knowing who they are and what they want from your company), and it’s being attentive and responsive to their needs.  To achieve even a basic level of customer-focus, employees need to be educated about your customers.  They need to know:

  • Who your customers are
  • Why they come to your organization in the first place
  • How they feel about your organization — from customer complaints, feedback, and satisfaction surveys.  (See Pop Quiz: Customers 101.)

The more your employees know about your customers, they better they can serve them.  So don’t forget to get employee input on how to improve customer satisfaction.

Here’s a thought-provoking starter question you can use in staff meetings.  Ask employees: If you were head of this organization, what are the three things you would do to improve customer service or satisfaction?

Some other ways to connect employees with customers:

  • Host an “Open House” where you invite customers to your place of business to meet & mingle with staff.  I remember hearing about a small company that would host small groups of clients on Friday afternoons (tied-in with the firm’s casual day) for a social hour.
  • On a much larger scale, General Motors Saturn car division hosts an annual get together of Saturn car owners.
  • One of my favorite examples is QuadGraphics, a Wisconsin-based printing firm that hosts a three-day “camp” where customers attend educational seminars and fun events to learn about printing processes… they also learn more about the company and connect with its staff.
  • At some catalog companies, employees will “mystery shop” the competition.  They actually shop their competitors to learn what it’s like to call & place an order (either by phone or online), check out merchandise quality, or see what’s involved in handling a return.  The value of this exercise (where appropriate & applicable) is that employees develop empathy for the customer experience + gain insight on how to improve their company’s own operations.

These internal marketing tools can be used with all employees, not just those with customer contact.  But non-contact staff pose a unique challenge — in what additional ways can you connect them to customers?

I’ll cover that in the last post of this series.

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Engagement Marketing

Internal Marketing’s Critical Connections (Part 2 – continued)

Building relationships among employees throughout the workplace enables them to feel connected within the organization.  Communication is a key ingredient in this process – sharing information within and across departmental silos to let people know what others are doing in the organization to help it move forward.

Trading Places

Role switching is another effective way to build internal relationships and appreciation for other employees. 

  • UPS sales reps accompany drivers on delivery runs, and drivers will go out on sales calls with the reps.  Sales reps gain appreciation on the experience of package delivery (and brand promise fulfillment), while drivers gain insight on what new accounts are looking for (including what it takes to land a new account).
  • Once a year, corporate employees from Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar work a shift at one of their restaurants.
  • I don’t know if they still do this, but Hyatt Hotels used to observe an “In Touch” Day where corporate staff went into the field to work in one of their hotel facilities – working alongside housekeeping, bell staff, catering, check-in or check-out.

The value of these programs is that they help build empathy for other staff, reinforcing teamwork and a sense of common purpose.  The combination of any such initiative to create a sense of appreciation and respect among co-workers, along with internal communications, helps strengthen employee relationships.  That’s what connecting employees within their organizations is all about.

Coming soon: the last in this series of Internal Marketing’s Critical Connections — connecting employees with customers.

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Engagement Marketing Training & Development

Internal Marketing’s Critical Connections (Part 1)

Internal marketing’s focus on valuing both customers and the employees who serve them requires strengthening three critical connections:

  • Connecting the employee to the organization
  • Connecting the employee within the organization
  • Connecting employees with customers.

This post begins a series on each connection, starting with connecting employees to their organization through orientation (for new employees) and constant communication (for all employees).  This establishes and reinforces employees’ fit in the scope of the organization (“big picture”) and what’s expected of them in helping the organization fulfill its mission & goals.

Becoming a Part of the Organization

Orientation’s role is to educate the new employee about:

  • The organization – its mission, values, goals, how it operates, where it’s going, etc. 
  • The specific job function – answering the employee’s questions on “What do I do & how do I do it? How will I be evaluated?” etc.
  • The industry in general – this is important for giving new employees a broader perspective by addressing how the organization is positioned within its industry; who its partners and competitor are; and trends (positive or threatening) that can impact the organization and its industry. (Unfortunately, this component of orientation – connecting employees to the “big picture” –  is often ignored.)

Starting off right

Starbucks‘ CEO Howard Schultz greets all new hires via video in which he shares the company’s history & culture, what it stands for, and where it’s going … he refers to this critical time as the “imprinting period of the new employee.”

Eat’nPark, a Pittsburgh-based restaurant chain, focuses on making new employees feel truly welcome.  Before a new hire starts in one of their restaurants, the manager circulates a “Welcome to the Team” card to be signed by staff.  This card includes a post-it note with brief information about the new team member – the person’s name, job position, and a fun-fact about the person’s hobbies or interests.  The welcome card works on several levels: it makes the new person feel welcome, facilitates communication between the new hire and current staff, and helps minimize some of the initial awkwardness of everyone getting to know each other.

 

Evaluating Orientation

After new employees complete their orientation, don’t forget to get their feedback in formal or informal evaluations.  A great question to ask employees after they’ve been on the job for a period of time (six weeks, three months, or longer) is “What do you know now that you wish you had known when you started?”

To be continued: my next post will address the communications aspect of this connection.