Category: Marketing

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Customer service Marketing

Holiday Shoppers: A New (Unscientific) Segmentation Model

What a relief!  The holiday shopping frenzy (pre- and post-Christmas sales) is over!

For my own shopping, I use a mix of in-store and on-line purchasing.  The in-store retail experience gives me the opportunity to observe the behaviors of consumers and service providers.  (I’m a social psych major who ended up as a career marketer, so I can’t help it.)

While waiting in long lines at a few stores with centralized check-outs, I noticed three types of consumers:

  • the impatient ones – characterized by frequent checks of their watches, heavy sighing or expressions of disgust, and/or glaring looks at the cashiers in front of the slow-moving lines
  • those clearly overwhelmed by holiday pressures – who wandered around the stores with that “deer-in-the-headlights” look
  • the more patient consumers – who made the best of the situation by socializing with other like-minded folks in line, maintaining goodwill given the spirit of the occasion (“You’ll have this during the peak of the Christmas shopping season …”), and/or rationalizing the trade-off of low service levels for discount prices.  (It’s also possible for some in this segment that their extended tolerance was induced by eggnog or other pre-holiday toasting.)

Granted, some people enjoy the hustle & bustle, sometimes push ’em & shove ’em experience of holiday shopping (including those procrastinators whose goal is to get the latest possible postmark on their April 15th tax returns); but I don’t think it applies to most of the shoppers I observed.

Inclement weather & transit strikes aside, is it any wonder that on-line retailers did so well this holiday season?

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Engagement Marketing Training & Development

2006: Recognizing A Special Anniversary

This new year is a very special one: 2006 marks the beginning of my 18th year in business as Quality Service Marketing.

Most small business statistics cite the first five years as being critical for survival, which is the reason I celebrate my business anniversary in five year increments.  But the number 18 has special significance for me – in Hebrew numerology, it represents “life.”  So I wanted to recognize this special year by acknowledging:

  • My clients (past & present) – I’ve enjoyed working with all of you, and it’s been an honor to serve you over the years, helping you with internal marketing & communications, marketing & strategic planning, and marketing & customer-focused training.
  • Special thanks to my long term relationships with Peg Portz & Jim Brown at Lehigh University’s Office of Distance Education; Pat Lawless at the Northeast PA Area Health Education Center; Ned Boehm at Keystone College; and Pat Goodrich, Lynn Brown & the rest of AMA’s professional development staff.
  • My colleagues – I’m fortunate to have a truly incredible network of marketing professionals & mentors whom I’ve relied on since starting QSM.  Time & space preclude me from mentioning everyone who’s helped me, but I need to acknowledge a number of special advisers (in no particular order): Frank Haas, Chris Bonney, Alan Kay, Toby Bloomberg, Len Berry, Steve Brown, Mike McDermott, Bill & Carolyn Neal, and Linda McAleer (she may not remember, but she helped convince me to start my business).  Special thanks, also, to my colleagues who continue to help make QSM look good: Glenn Wampole of Waitz Corporation and John Bartorillo & AJ Zambetti of Maslow Lumia Bartorillo Advertising.
  • Last (but certainly not least), my family and inspiration – my devoted husband, Michael (who’s still waiting for me to define success beyond professional & personal fulfillment. He loves to say, “Show me the money!”), and my wonderful son (and technological adviser), Jason.  I also need to acknowledge my mother, Ruth Fischman – a retired English & journalism teacher, who is still there for me when I need help with my writing.

Thanks to all for helping me reach this milestone 18th anniversary.  I couldn’t have done it without you!

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Engagement Marketing

When Employee Engagement is a Joke

For some time now, I’ve enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek philosophy of E. L. Kersten, author of The Art of Demotivation and provider of anti-motivational posters & products on his site: www.despair.com. Here are a few choice quotes:

  • “Apathy: If we don’t take care of the customer, maybe they’ll stop bugging us.”
  • “Get to Work: You aren’t being paid to believe in the power of  your dreams.”
  • “Worth: Just because you’re necessary doesn’t mean you’re important.”

(Enjoy checking out the complete list of demotivational quotes.)

But I’ve also had mixed feelings.  We all need to lighten up (like Sergeant Hulka, I have a “hell of a sense of humor”), yet I wonder if displaying these cynical, anti-Successories-type items might send the wrong message or be misinterpreted.

The sad truth is Kersten’s Despair, Inc. business wouldn’t be successful if it didn’t resonate with people.  There are too many organizations out there whose only effort to engage employees is to display motivational posters and/or initiate token recognition programs. Kersten’s satire is an effective way to deal with these shallow efforts.

And for those of us who are passionate about employee engagement, it’s also an opportunity to poke fun at ourselves … while reminding us of the importance of our work.

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Customer service Engagement Marketing

Employee & Customer Trauma Cause Brand Damage

My recent posts dealt with the employee-customer happiness/satisfaction link and employees as personification of the brand.

Unfortunately, some managers may be blind to these self-reinforcing relationships, but not customers.

Customers are quick to pick up on signals of employee frustration & dissatisfaction, whether conveyed deliberately or not.  Consider a consumer’s experience in dealing with employees who:

  • lack sufficient product knowledge to help customers
  • are not clued in to the marketing messages being communicated to customers
  • genuinely want to help customers, but are hampered by a lack of internal support.

Any one of these situations that repeatedly occur reflect negatively on a company, its employees, and management.  Even worse, it puts an organization at risk to:

  • lose customers & income
  • lose employees (while incurring turnover expense)
  • negatively impact the company’s reputation (as a result of customer & employee churn), and
  • inflict serious brand damage.

Here’s a case where preventative medicine is preferable to acute care.  My prescription?  A healthy dose of internal marketing’s 3 Rs (Respect, Recognition & Reinforcement) applied regularly.

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Customer service Engagement Marketing

Happy Employees & Customers

I came across a great post (one of many) in Olivier Blanchard’s The Brand Builder blog that reinforces the happy employee-happy customer link (it even sports a title similar to one of my earlier posts).

What I love about Olivier’s post is “The Wheel of Customer Service and Brand Identity Doom” that models what he describes as “a self-perpetuating vicious cycle of substandard customer-to-brand experiences.”

It’s a great visual and one that many managers need to be reminded of.  Sadly, there are also too many consumers and employees who would agree.

More to follow in my next post …

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Customer service Engagement Marketing

Employees Personify the Brand

In his blog, From the Marketing Trenches, Jonathan Dampier reinforces the critical role employees play in presenting a company’s brand to the public.  And he laments the fact that there are organizations out there who still don’t get it.  (As consumers, we all have our horror stories about these companies.)

With the best intentions and creativity, a company can put out a spectacular marketing message; i.e., the brand promise.  But if the customer’s experience – as actually delivered by employees – is inconsistent or conflicts with the company’s marketing message, who are customers gonna believe:  the marketing or their own experience?

That’s why organizations need to be reminded that employees ARE the brand.  As Len Berry, marketing professor at Texas A&M, so aptly put it: “the brand walks around on two feet.”

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Engagement Marketing

Keeping Up with Employee Communication

My last post covered the results of a research study that found a distressing number of organizations failed to effectively communicate to employees the purpose of their jobs along with their corporate mission & strategy.

It’s not as if organizations don’t have enough communications tools to use.

Check out New Frontiers in Employee Communications: 2005 featured in Christopher Hannegan’s blog. Christopher heads Edelman’s Employee Engagement Practice.

Here are the key findings from Edelman’s survey on employee communication trends:

  • While in-person communication was found to be the most effective tool for general employee communications, it is not the tool most frequently used; i.e., cost-effectiveness does not equal communication effectiveness.
  • Communicators have a much greater awareness of new communication tools over the past year.  Despite high awareness of blogs and wikis, these tools aren’t being applied for internal or external communication.
  • Most standard communications policies do not yet include guidelines covering the new tools, notably employee blogs.  The absence of such guidelines puts companies and their blogging employees at risk (depending on blog content and tone).

Note: For more info on employee blogs, check out Edelman & Intelliseek’s white paper: Talking from the Inside Out: The Rise of Employee Bloggers.

Bottom Line

There’s no lack of available communication tools – both new and traditional – in organizations.  And there’s certainly no lack of content to be communicated.  The key is to focus on what employees need to know in order to do their jobs, apply the appropriate communications tools, AND find the right balance between too little and too much information.

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Engagement Marketing

Companies Fail to Engage, Connect with Employees

Here are some scary statistics from a recent survey by IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) and Right Management Associates:

  • nearly half (48%) of 472 organizations surveyed acknowledged that their management failed to effectively communicate to employees the purpose of their jobs and their business mission and strategy
  • only 37% of those surveyed said their employees are effectively aligned with their organization’s mission and vision.

Talk about a disconnect!

Internal Marketing Fundamental

Effective communication is one of the basic precepts of internal marketing – to engage employees, an organization needs to communicate (at a minimum):

  • what the organization stands for (i.e., its mission, vision & values)
  • what its goals & objectives are (strategy), and
  • what is expected of employees in helping achieve the mission & strategy (where they fit in “the big picture”).

How can employees effectively help their organizations move forward if they don’t know where it’s going or what is expected of them?!

Consider this

I’ll avoid going off the deep end here (no wringing of hands or gnashing of teeth).  And I won’t waste time pondering the many reasons why this happens in organizations.

My question, dear readers, is this: where would your organization find itself in this survey? And if you think you’d be in the company of the 48% above, what will you do to improve your situation?

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Engagement Marketing

Goodbye, Peter Drucker – You’ll be Missed

I had to comment on the recent passing of Peter F. Drucker, aka the “father of modern management.”  I’ve followed his teachings throughout my career, especially as my work in services marketing evolved to focus on internal marketing and nonprofit marketing.

Drucker was truly a visionary who advocated:

  • Employee value … “People are a resource and not just a cost.”
  • Customers as the focal point of business … “To satisfy the customer is the mission and purpose of every business.”
  • Marketing as “the distinguishing … unique function of business” (see Customers above), and
  • the Importance of the Social Sector … “The nonprofit exists to bring about change in individuals and in society.”

Here’s my favorite quote from Peter Drucker, and it comes to mind every time I finish up an internal marketing session:

“If a client leaves this room feeling he has learned a lot he hadn’t known before, he is either a stupid client or I’ve done a poor job as a consultant.  He should leave saying, ‘I know all this — why haven’t I done anything about it?'”*

Thank you, Peter, for your incredible legacy.  You’ll be greatly missed.

*Note: No offense meant to those who attend my internal marketing programs; I truly value their interest & willingness to learn more about it.  Most feel internal marketing is intuitive and already buy-into the concept (hence my experience of “preaching to the choir”) … the challenge is getting more organizations to put it into practice.

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Marketing

Advertising & Marketing History: A Blast from the Past

For a fascinating look at how advertising has shaped our society, check out this incredible resource: the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History (part of Duke University’s Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library).  You can find:

Center holdings include papers from Madison Avenue ad executives that document advertising campaigns with insight into the creative process, target audience, and media selection.

Take a journey back in time to view 19th & 20th century advertising … it’s bound to be a fun trip!