Tag: internal marketing

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Customer service Engagement Marketing

Internal Marketing Spotlight: Mohonk Mountain House (Part 1)

One of my favorite vacation spots is a sprawling castle that sits amid thousands of acres of beautiful land nestled in upstate New York. Mohonk Mountain House is a family owned resort facility that was founded in 1869 by Albert Smiley and is recognized as a National Historic Landmark. In its fourth generation of family leadership, Mohonk maintains “19th century charm” while offering 21st century amenities (including a fabulous spa). Mohonk provides its guests with exceptional service and hospitality and has received numerous industry accolades, including recognition by Conde Nast Traveler’s  Readers’ Choice Awards and Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards.

My husband and I have enjoyed visiting Mohonk as returning guests for several years now, and we continue to be impressed with the its commitment to service excellence and hospitality. After our last visit, I contacted Jacquelyn Appeldorn, Mohonk Mountain House General Manager, and she graciously agreed to a blog interview. Jackie has served in this position for 11 years and oversees a staff of up to 750 full-time and part-time employees. (The total number of employees fluctuates seasonally in this year round operation.)

Part 1 of this interview provides insight into Mohonk’s service culture and how the organization engages employees in maintaining this culture. Part 2 will feature a special follow up.

QSM: Jackie, please tell us a little bit about your background and how you came to be at Mohonk Mountain House (MMH).


Jackie: I’ve had two tenures at MMH. While I was in college, I started working in the Mohonk Mountain House dining room for what I then expected would be a summer job. I worked there for a few summers while in college, and then stayed for another 15 years, as I progressed through the organization. I was a vice president when I left to take a position on the faculty in the business department of a nearby community college (teaching had long been my career aspiration), where I remained for 9 years. During this time, I joined the Board of Directors at Mohonk, and then was offered the General Manager position. Although I enjoyed college teaching, the offer represented a unique opportunity, and I still am honored to be here.

QSM: Mohonk has been serving guests for more than 140 years. How do you apply this tradition of service in current times?

Jackie: We have a long tradition of serving guests. When we were designing our Service Program in 2003, we determined we needed to create a Service Statement: a brief but inclusive message that all employees could recite and understand that accurately articulated our vision of service at Mohonk; almost a mission statement for our service program. We spent many hours struggling over what it should say and really needed and wanted it to be perfect.

One day, our archivist presented our Executive Group with a document dated June 19, 1916, and signed AK Smiley (the nephew of the first AK Smiley who founded the resort in 1869). At the top was the phrase “MEMORANDUM IN EFFECT UNTIL FUTHER NOTICE …” In the body of the memo, we found our Service Statement: “The cardinal aim of our business is the comfort and contentment of guests.” Mr. Smiley’s memo provided a blue print for the right way for employees to behave in the workplace and to treat guests, which is just what we intended our Service Program to do. The behaviors addressed in his memo are some of the same behaviors our program addresses almost 90 years later.

QSM: The hospitality industry employs people around the clock. What are the key challenges of engaging staff in a 24/7 operation? And how do you prepare to meet these challenges?

Jackie: The biggest challenge in this regard is communication. I feel all of us spend so much of our time in meetings, and we still don’t convey everything we want our staff to know – and what they want to know — on a timely basis. One element of our Service Program was the introduction of Daily Shift Briefings, a brief activity intended to take place at the start of every employee’s work shift that provides key information about that day’s events, activities to reinforce specific service practices (we have 14 Service Steps and 3 Service Standards) and trivia about Mohonk history.

As our Service Program evolved, we added a quarterly employee publication called Mohonk Bits (initiated and produced by non-managerial employees) and a weekly cafeteria tabletop flyer, known as Tidbits. These publications do more than relay information; they emphasize our traditions and service commitment, highlight successes (individual and organizational), convey historical anecdotes (as a 142- year-old family-owned business, history is important to us) and reinforce our pride in what all of us do at Mohonk.

QSM: Tell us more your Service Program and Service Committee: why it was formed … its purpose … who is involved … what are some typical activities … and its overall impact.

Jackie: Mohonk’s Service Program was the result of a well-planned, thoughtfully considered, comprehensive initiative to change the culture that existed at that time to one that values and exhibits a high standard of service to guests as well as co-workers. Developing and launching the plan took about two years and involved many employees throughout the organization. Once the program was launched, a newly created Service Committee took on organizational responsibility for maintaining and nurturing the service culture.

We all recognize our individual roles in perpetuating our service culture, but this committee is charged with developing and executing activities on a regular basis that provide on-going, consistent reinforcement of good service behavior. Our Training Manager, who works in the HR department, now chairs the committee. Most departments have a representative who volunteered or may have been invited by other committee members to join. Members can rotate off, which exposes a greater number of employees to the function of the committee. The committee is composed of supervisory or management staff, although not senior management, and the occasional hourly employee.

Members meet weekly and plan monthly programs, holiday events, and on-going activities. For example, they create two annual all-employee events. The one in November has evolved into The Parlor Games; past themes have been Jeopardy, professional wrestling, and the Dating Game. These games feature contests involving volunteers and members of the audience that reinforce our Service Steps and Standards. Every May, the committee produces the annual Albert Awards, the Mohonk version of the Oscars, where individual employees receive awards (an Albert statue, cash and prizes) for Best Performance in each of our 14 Service Steps. We award two for each category – one to “front of the house” employees, those that regularly deal with guests; and one to back-of-the-house employees, who work behind the scenes and are more apt to serve co-workers. We run each of these events once in the morning and again in the afternoon to allow employees working both shifts to attend. These two annual events are elaborate productions, much enjoyed and anticipated by the staff.

An example of a monthly service program is Cash Cab. This program reinforces the service step of “Escort Guests to their Destination.” Throughout the month, a member of the Service Committee drives around picking up employees in the parking lot to drive them to the entrance. (The parking lots are a long downhill walk from the entrance.) On the trip, employees have a chance to win prizes by answering questions about Mohonk (reinforcing the Service Step “Be Knowledgeable About House History.”)

Another popular monthly program is when management staff replaces the cafeteria servers at meals. An additional ongoing activity is the awarding of “Summerhouse Tickets” (Mohonk’s logo is a summerhouse). Managers receive tickets each month to award to employees they catch in the act of providing good service. Ticket recipients are entered into a monthly raffle for prizes.

We have 15 people on the Service Committee who perform their regular jobs in addition to the work they do for the Service Committee (unlike academia, we don’t offer release time for work outside of one’s job description). The committee and the individual members are highly regarded. We are very, very fortunate to have such creative, motivated, dedicated and hardworking staff members who are eager to serve on the committee. The programs and activities that they develop, and that we as a company support, do much to create an energized, positive work atmosphere.

QSM: Impressive! Thanks, Jackie, for sharing how Mohonk engages employees in reinforcing its culture of guest service. We look forward to learning more.

Note: Stayed tuned for Part 2 of this interview in which Jackie shares an employee story of service recovery.

Categories
Engagement Marketing

From Employee to Brand Champion

A trend I’ve noticed from my internal marketing workshops is attendees’ increased interest in engaging their employees as brand advocates/ambassadors/champions/evangelists or whatever preferred term is used to describe highly engaged employees who positively represent the company brand. More and more companies are moving from lip-service to genuinely recognizing their employees’ role in competitive differentiation. These organizations have come to understand that innovation isn’t sustainable. While today’s new products & services can become tomorrow’s commodities, the one thing your competitors cannot copy is your employees’ relationship with your customers.

I’m thrilled that more companies get the concept that their brand “walks on two feet.” At the same time, I’m concerned because developing and sustaining such brand champions cannot be a superficial endeavor. The process starts with corporate and nonprofit leaders answering these critical questions:

  1. WHY do we want and/or need brand champions?
  2. WHAT DO WE EXPECT to happen as a result of engaging our employees in this manner?
  3. HOW will we recognize the employees in these roles and reinforce their efforts?

Collaborative Commitment
Addressing these key questions requires bridging internal silos to generate collaborative discussion among Marketing, Human Resources, Operations, Brand Management, and other key business functions. You’ll need everyone’s agreement and commitment to work together to foster employee engagement.

Once your firm’s leaders identify the rationale and expectations of its brand champions, you can start the process of engaging (all or some of) your employees accordingly. Here’s a sample overview of what’s involved in this process.

  • Clarify what your brand is all about, what your brand values are, and what your brand means to customers. Then communicate and repeatedly reinforce this information with employees.
  • Help employees understand all the touch points that impact your customers’ experience with the brand. Then educate and train employees so they have the requisite skills and tools to effectively deliver on the brand promise.
  • Make sure your internal operations are aligned with and support your brand; eliminate any internal barriers that hamper employees’ ability to serve customers.
  • Solicit and respond to both customer and employee input on how the brand experience can be improved.

Creating a workplace culture that transforms employees to serve as brand advocates requires an ongoing collaborative commitment that is well worth the effort to effectively engage both employees and customers.

If you’re not sure your organization can go the distance here, take time out to reflect on your company’s short- and long-term competitive position. What would you rather have: brand champions or bland champions?

Categories
Customer service Engagement Marketing

“The Rock and Roll Guide to Customer Loyalty”

Seriously, it’s an e-book about customer service with a rock & roll twist written by Joe Heuer, the Rock and Roll Guru.

I fell in love with The Rock and Roll Guide to Customer Loyalty because it’s a fun read that carries a meaningful message about customer service. As a baby-boomer, I enjoy classic ‘60s music. As an advocate of internal marketing, I also love that Joe gets the value of engaging employees in generating customer loyalty.

Some of the groovy gems from this complimentary e-book (yes, it’s free!) include:

  • “Lip-synching: The rock & roll equivalent of the fake customer service smile.”
  • Concerts = encounters with customers, aka moments of truth wherein “your challenge is to create a memorable moment that makes your customer say, ‘WOW!’”
  • Band = employees who are your internal customers and coworkers. “Customer loyalty begins with internal loyalty. … What are you currently doing to make your workplace one that attracts and retains radically happy and loyal band members?”
  • A standing ovation = appreciation. “Be outrageous in demonstrating your love and appreciation for your customers … [and] internal customers.”

And my favorite quote: “Treating your internal customers like rock stars goes beyond providing red M&M’s and Dom Perignon. But that’s a good start.”

Pass around those M&Ms and champagne, and rock on!

[Note: Special thanks to Phil Gerbyshak for introducing me to Joe.]

Categories
Engagement Marketing Training & Development

Valuable Career Insights

2011 year marks my 36th year in the workplace (excluding part-time and summer jobs I held as a teen). I can honestly say I’ve enjoyed most of it, especially these past 23 years in business as Quality Service Marketing.

I’ve learned a tremendous amount as my career evolved. Reflecting on my experience, I can highlight valuable insights and lessons learned in the key roles I serve.

  • As a services marketer, I learned that customer-focus begins with employee-focus because, quite simply, employees ARE the brand. The need to recognize and reinforce employee value continues to drive my passion for internal marketing.
  • As a speaker & trainer, I learned:
    • It’s all about respect for my audience – understanding who they are and what about the topic appeals to them so I can target my presentation accordingly.
    • Equally important, it’s all about application – engaging and enabling audience members to consider how the information applies to their situation and how they can use it.
  • As a facilitator, I learned it’s all about the questions. I believe my clients have most of the answers they seek, they just don’t realize it. So my primary role is to engage them in discovery by asking the right questions.
  • Above all, as a business professional, I learned it’s all about demonstrating respect and integrity in working with my clients, my colleagues, and all the other important professionals (suppliers, printers, accountants, etc.), I partner with.

These valuable insights have served me well throughout my career, and they continue to influence how I do what I do.

What insights and lessons have made the most impact in your career?

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Quality Service Marketing Joins the World Wide Web

I’m happy to introduce my new website! Until now I resisted the idea, using this blog in lieu of a separate website. So why now – especially given social media’s blending of internet marketing tools?

The decision to have my own website was necessitated by two key factors:

  • the growth of my business – in the past several years since my book was published, I’ve been researched and contacted by more organizations interested in employee-customer care. While my blog contains a wealth of such content written over the past six years, prospects told me they preferred a site where they could get a quicker overview of my work.
  • the growth of social media and my involvement in it (including my recent foray in Twitter) – here, again, I needed a better way to convey my brand to new network contacts.

Special thanks to Spectyr Media for designing and developing www.qualityservicemarketing.net. Yes, Spectyr Media’s principal is my son, Jason … and yes, I insisted on paying him for his professional services and web-hosting. Just don’t ask him about the extra pay he deserved for his patience in putting up with my technophobia!

Categories
Customer service Engagement Marketing Training & Development

What Still Matters: Three Years Later

I’ve been so busy traveling the past few weeks, I forgot to celebrate the third anniversary of my book’s release. Taking Care of the People Who Matter Most: A Guide to Employee-Customer Care was published in October 2007, and sales are still going strong – despite the economy and because of it. As companies struggle to hold onto their business in this downturn, employee and customer engagement are more critical than ever.

In the past three years I traveled coast–to-coast to speak with business and nonprofit professionals who want to strengthen this engagement through internal marketing. What surprised me most is that while I met with marketing and human resources staff (as expected), my audiences were also filled with engineers, nonprofit managers, social workers, association executives, healthcare practice managers, municipal administrators, educators, and software consultants. They willingly shared “the good, the bad, and the ugly” of workplace engagement. (Little shocks me anymore … at the same time, I continue to be encouraged to hear what works.)

Looking back over the past three years, here’s what I’ve learned from these diverse audiences:

  1. Engaging employees and customers with internal marketing is intuitive, but not intentional enough – managers need reminders to “take care of employees to take care of customers.”
  2. Even with restructuring/downsizing/hierarchical flattening, too many organizational silos remain – employees continue to feel disconnected and disenfranchised.
  3. Management-by-wandering-around (MBWA) is making a comeback – while this practice isn’t as popular as it used to be, it hasn’t gone out of style.

Employees want and need to feel their work matters. Together with customers, they want to know that they are respected and valued.Why is this so difficult?

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Categories
Engagement Marketing

Workplace Success Starts Here

A strong culture depends on leaders who strive for success from the inside out. They truly recognize and respect their employees and are diligent in engaging and partnering with them. Unfortunately, some CEOs only recognize their people as a “most valued asset” in the company’s annual report.

Note: Debra Semans and I will address how to build a strong workplace culture at the Internal Branding & Internal Marketing: Strategic Integration for Market Leadership program we’re presenting this week in San Francisco and again in Atlanta in February 2011.

“Companies that had a strong culture going into this terrible time over the last 18 months and companies that really do care for their employees are the ones that did much better through this difficult time.” 
– Diana Oreck, VP-Ritz-Carlton Hotel Global Learning & Leadership Center,
Marketing News interview

Re-Engage authors Leigh Branham and Mark Hirschfeld said it best:

“If you begin your branding process by declaring an ‘aspirational brand’ without aligning it with the reality of employees’ daily work experience, you are in danger of writing a check your culture can’t cash.”

 

Categories
Engagement Marketing Training & Development

Engaging Volunteers (3): Intentional Volunteer Management

 

“Too many organizations are thoughtless when it comes to volunteers.”
– Susan Ellis, president of Energize, Inc., a volunteer training & consulting firm.

Sadly, many former volunteers would agree with this statement. That’s why an intentional and proactive (rather than passive or reactive) effort is needed to effectively engage and retain volunteers.

Here are some guidelines to help you get started with intentional volunteer engagement and management.

  • Focus at the Board Level
    Volunteer expert Susan Ellis recommends volunteer involvement be a regular part of the board agenda so it can proactively focus on how to effectively recruit, engage, and maximize volunteer participation. “Don’t allow volunteer involvement to be the invisible personnel issue,” she says. She also suggests creating a board committee on volunteerism.
  • Learn who your volunteers are, their interest in your organization, and their volunteer expectations (as described in my previous post).
  • Clarify and clearly communicate your organization’s expectations of volunteers and what they can expect from you. Here’s a great example: After meeting with a nonprofit organization’s leaders, I received a follow-up letter inviting me to serve on their advisory council. This invitation described council members’ responsibilities and stated what the organization promised them in return, including “Appreciation of your time and our commitment not to abuse your time or generosity.”
  • Find ways to connect your volunteers to:
    • your organization’s mission, strategic direction, and goals. (Note: You can even include volunteers in your strategic planning process.)
    • your stakeholders (if applicable) to see your mission in action
    • your other volunteers for mentoring and partnering
    • your staff, particularly those with whom they’ll be working.
  • Provide the mission-focused training and tools your volunteers need to best serve the organization; e.g., orientation, ongoing communication, recognition, etc.
  • Proactively listen to your volunteers – obtain their feedback, ideas, concerns – and respond appropriately.

Volunteers require more than a simple “recruit ‘em and recognize ‘em” approach. Nonprofit leaders need to invest time and attention to engaging, managing, and retaining volunteer talent.

Stay tuned for my next post that will explore the challenge of engaging volunteers who are also brand partners.

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Internal Marketing Spotlight: SNVC (Part 2)

This post continues my interview with Beth Miller-Herholtz, SNVC’s VP of Corporate Communications, about how her company handles employee engagement and recognition.

QSM: What is your biggest challenge in maintaining a strong organizational culture?

Beth: I think the biggest challenge is also one of our biggest strengths. We have eight unique contracts, and that means eight unique clients … So when we look at our organization culture, we have to consider how our initiatives will be received in the different client cultures.

QSM: How do you effectively engage employees when they spend most of their time working at the client site?

Beth: In our industry, where most of our personnel are onsite with our government client, it’s very easy to build loyalty to the client and forget about the company behind you. To help answer our questions, we turned to Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton’s book, The Carrot Principle, for some insight and guidance. It became the basis for our Awards and Recognition Program. We began to emphasize, both in words and in actions, that the total value of a career is a comprehensive package that includes competitive compensation and benefits along with career development, work/life balance, and an environment that welcomes everyone with talent and determination to be the best. The Recognition Program provides the means to put our words into action — action that celebrates and rewards talent, determination, and innovation.

We incorporated awards to recognize people in key areas – Thought Leadership, Career Service, Professional Development, Innovation, and Special Incentives – all of which contribute to personal growth and corporate growth. Our program is peer-based, so anyone can recommend someone for doing great work or going the extra mile. It incorporates flexibility in that the rewards can be gift cards, W2 compensation/bonuses, or leave hours. Recognition of the individual is done as quickly as possible; in fact, that is a metric we track – how close to the action that deserved the recognition can we say “thanks” or “well done”. Where possible, we engage our client in the recognition, too, so that they see the company behind the employee who is providing that outstanding support. In addition, we announce awards in our monthly e-newsletter, which often includes photos and videos of the event.

QSM: I appreciate your sharing SNVC’s model of engaging employees through recruitment, retention, and recognition. It’s obvious you take great pride in your work at SNVC. Any closing comments?

Beth: Ultimately, our corporate values of Leadership, Commitment, and Integrity are the same three values that laid the foundation for the company back in 1998. Our culture embraces the fact that we remain focused on service to our nation, knowing that our end user is the warfighter, the defender of our homeland. Of that, I think I am most proud.

QSM: Thanks, Beth!

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Employee Engagement Advice for Managers

The new Employee Engagement e-book is now available to help managers and business leaders who want to better engage their employees. It features a compilation of concise advice and helpful tips written by members of the Employee Engagement Network. I was happy to contribute to the book (see page 22), although it was a challenge to select and share engagement advice in a single sentence!

Like its companion book on Employee Engagement, this book is free. So what are you waiting for? Download your free copy and circulate the advice. We need all the help we can get to try to reverse the decline in job satisfaction.