Category: Engagement

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Customer service Engagement Marketing

Corporate Culture Thought for the Day

Don’t you just love all those car ads promoting consumer pricing based on employee discounts?  (“You pay what our employees pay!”)

Treating customers like employees … an interesting concept.

Ponder this (if you dare)

Let’s take it beyond sales promotion for a moment.  Here’s an interesting question for you to consider: What would be the impact on your customers if they really were treated like employees of your organization?

The answer depends on your organization.  If you and your colleagues can respond positively, you’re among the fortunate.

If your answer is anything less than positive, my heart goes out to you (and your fellow employees and your customers).  In this case, if you’re able to explore other options, here’s my advice (with apologies to Lee Iacocca): If you can find a better deal with another employer, take it!

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Engagement Marketing

Another Reason Why Marketing & HR Need to Work Together

As a follow up to my recent post on internal marketing and employee recruitment & retention, check out Using Branding to Attract Talent, the latest article from The McKinsey Quarterly — it goes beyond internal marketing to branding as a recruiting tool.

In addition to the usual attributes of recruitment (benefits, opportunities for growth, etc.), McKinsey urges companies to focus on their “intangible, emotional associations” (e.g., “it’s fun to work here” … “we have a passionate and intelligent culture” … “there’s a strong team feeling”) for competitive differentiation.

Working for an organization with a strong brand, inside & out … it’s a no-brainer.  And how lucky for the folks in HR and Marketing (not to mention everyone else) who work there!

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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

Executive Firing – Can You Hear Me Now?

Current and would-be CEO’s would be wise to check out Leadership IQ’s recent study on why CEOs get fired.  I found this recently on Michelangelo Celli’s Inside the Loop blog.

Here are the top reasons for giving CEOs the ax:

  • mismanaging change
  • ignoring customers
  • tolerating low performers
  • denying reality
  • too much talk & not enough action.

mc’s post focuses on the importance of maintaining communication with customers (i.e., ignore customers at your own risk), and I wholeheartedly agree.

What’s also imperative is that CEO’s maintain communication with employees, including soliciting and listening to employee input.  The “too much talk & not enough action” is the finding that resonates the most with me.

I’ve heard too many stories of executive searches gone wrong because the winning CEO candidate gave “good talk” (enough to impress the search committee) and then after getting hired, just kept talking.  These are the guys who spend their first few weeks/months on the job getting to know everyone on staff by telling them their vision/new plans for the organization.

Talk, Talk, Talk, Talk, Talk …

There’s nothing wrong with that – people do want to know what the new guy is going to do – as long as the new CEO spends as much time listening as he does talking.  Unfortunately, some CEOs waltz in with their ideas without first assessing the situation … which involves listening.  (You remember that old cliche about why we were created with “two ears and only one mouth” … )

So here’s some advice for those in new CEO positions: listen first, listen well, and talk later.

And my advice to the staff of the new CEO who comes in talking without listening?  Update your resumes & start networking.

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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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Customer service Engagement Marketing

Organizational Culture: What Matters (Part 1)

I just finished reading the July issue of Presentations magazine and its feature an article on workplace etiquette … very timely given the recent “flip-flop flap” at the White House.

This post isn’t meant to bemoan a lack of manners in general or get into any fashion dispute. I just want to reinforce the importance of common courtesy and respect for others in the workplace.

Respect is a fundamental element of internal marketing. It includes treating people cordially, with civility and sincerity – not the drone scripted recitation of “Thank you for doing business with us … have a nice day” that you hear from some service providers.

But for many employees who truly care about their customers, sometimes the issue of professional courtesy can be a stretch. It’s hard to show respect for customers when workers don’t feel respected in their own organizations.

How employees (and customers, in turn) are treated is a reflection of corporate culture. What’s it like in your workplace?

More on this in my next post, including how to assess your organization’s culture …

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Engagement Marketing Training & Development

Internal Marketing’s Ultimate Question

I had the privilege again this summer of serving as an Executive Visitor at the Iacocca Institute’s Global Village for Future Leaders of Business & Industry at Lehigh University.  And my topic was (drum roll … ): internal marketing – the importance of taking care of employees so they can take care of customers. Specifically:

  • Why organizations need to be employee-focused and customer-focused
  • What managers need to do to gain employee commitment to organizational goals
  • How managers can strengthen employee-customer relationships.

It’s a delight to share internal marketing with such an energetic & enthusiastic group.  Regardless of where the Global Village interns were from (including Sweden, Austria, Singapore, Canada, South Africa, Puerto Rico, Israel, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Hong Kong, and the U.S., to name a few of their home countries), they quickly grasped the concept of internal marketing.  In each session, someone asked the ultimate question: “If internal marketing is so basic, why don’t more companies do it?”

A simple question with no easy answer

The best explanation I could come up with, given our limited time together, was to remind them that internal marketing is really an issue of leadership & values … evident in organizations who truly care about both their customers AND the employees who take care of them.

Yes, unfortunately, there are companies out there who only give “lip service” to valuing their employees (as mentioned in numerous posts throughout my blog).  And there are managers who feel they don’t need internal marketing – the ones who presume “I wouldn’t be where I am today if I wasn’t doing something right!”  (Hmm, I wonder what their staff and customer turnover is like?)

What I learned the hard way

So I shared what I learned a long time ago in my business.  The companies who need me the most are not the ones who hire me because they’re clueless when it comes to internal marketing.  While the challenge they present might entice some consultants, I no longer waste the time & energy to sell them on the concept when they just don’t get it.

I’d rather focus my time on helping my clients – those who recognize internal marketing’s value and are committed to doing something about it, as well as those already doing internal marketing who want to do it even better.  In other words, I don’t have to sell them on internal marketing because they already get it.  It’s why I love working with them.

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Engagement Marketing

Got History? Part 3

To wrap up this series of posts, here are some ways you can plan & leverage your organization’s anniversary celebration, according to Phyllis Barr, founder of New York-based Corporate Culture Marketing by Barr Consulting Services.

Why Celebrate?

Start with why you should consider celebrating.  Phyllis suggests the following as sample objectives :

  • To enhance corporate or product identity
  • Rejuvenate an aging brand
  • Educate staff and stakeholders (including customers, investors, local community and/or the public-at-large)
  • Reinforce the corporate culture
  • Enhance donor awareness & fund raising efforts (for nonprofits).

How Should You Celebrate?

Consider how long you intend to celebrate:

  • on the day of the anniversary itself?
  • a week- or month-long commemoration?
  • throughout the year?

Then consider how you’ll celebrate; for example:

  • Special events – such as hosting an open house, customer and/or staff appreciation activities, etc.
  • Exhibit highlighting your organization’s history & memorabilia – can be off-line and/or on-line; for example, set up a traveling exhibit at schools, malls, trade shows, etc. (whatever is appropriate for your organization)
  • History documented in a special book, newsletter, and/or DVD
  • Special promotions and/or giveaways
  • Sponsorships – another great idea for nonprofits: link up with a local business that’s been in business for the same length of time to develop a joint celebration.

Phyllis laments that too many corporate histories tend to be “cut & dried” & put together in dull fashion, but they need not be that way.  You can be creative as your imagination & budget allow.

Also, you don’t have to do it alone – include oral history interviews with staff and customers.  (What a great way to recognize the folks who’ve been with you the longest!)  You can also solicit old photos and artifacts related to your organization.

Whatever you do to celebrate your organization’s history, make it meaningful and make it fun!