Tag: books

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Blog Milestone & Motivational Quote

This is truly a special week as it marks my 4th anniversary of blogging and my 250th post! Thanks to all my blog readers and fellow bloggers for your continued support and inspiration.

It’s time to refresh this blog’s looks, and I’m excited to announce my blog redesign is in the works and should be ready soon.

To honor the start of my 5th year blogging about internal marketing & communications, I chose to quote Frances Hesselbein about the underlying elements of an engaged workplace.

“Our behavior as well as our words build a climate of trust, a climate of respect, and a climate where mission, values, and equal access permeate the organization.

That is how we build the healthy, inclusive, and embracing relationships that unleash the human spirit. We can dismiss this as soft management and soft talk, but I challenge us to measure the performance of a team whose work is underscored by trust, civility, and good manners against a team where mistrust, disrespect, and lack of consideration are the rule of the day. No contest. Spirit, motivation, respect, and appreciation win every time. Dispirited, unmotivated, unappreciated workers cannot compete in a highly competitive world.”

This excerpt is from her 1992 book Hesselbein on Leadership, and her message is as relevant as ever.

Categories
Musings

What I Hope to Accomplish This Year

New Year’s resolutions, best intentions, and assorted goals for 2009 – here’s a sample of what’s on my list for this year.

Professional

  • Update the look of my blog – watch for this sometime in February with the help of Karin Choi, Choice Designs, and Yvonne DiVita & Tom Collins, my publisher & friends at Windsor Media Enterprises..
  • Write an e-book or series of special reports that provide additional tools and ideas on how to engage employees with internal marketing. This publication (whatever form it ultimately takes) will continue to build on the foundation, strategy, and tools provided in my book Taking Care of the People Who Matter Most: A Guide to Employee-Customer Care.
  • Determine if I’m going to be a “late adopter” of the Twitter phenomenon. Lots of colleagues are encouraging me to tweet, but I’m still not sure whether it’s right for me or not. (Pardon me, but my technophobia is showing.)

Personal

  • Keep up with my walking for both physical & mental health. (No treadmill for me, I prefer walking outside in the fresh air where I can also get my vitamin D naturally.)
  • I also want to get back to yoga and/or learn meditation. (I attended an intro yoga class a number of years ago and loved it; I just need to find a local class that I can fit it into my schedule.)
  • Get serious about executive downsizing – that’s solopreneur-speak for wanting to lose weight. (I prefer to think of myself as “upscale” rather than overweight.)

What are you planning to do in this New Year? Equally important, how good are you at keeping to your resolutions? (Hint, hint: suggestions are welcome!)

Categories
Engagement Marketing

A Special Anniversary Calls for Thanksgiving & A Special Offer

This year I’m celebrating my company’s 20th anniversary. It was 20 years ago this month that I officially registered Quality Service Marketing as a business and, thanks to my many clients and colleagues, it’s been an incredible experience.

Perhaps this longevity is the reason I’m not panicking over the current economy, even though my business has been affected this year. I’ve made it through difficult economic times before.

Reflecting over the past 20 years, what has changed the most? Two things stand out:

  1. Technology and its impact on the workplace – in extending my communications reach (e.g., blogging) … in providing faster, more expedient ways to communicate with clients and colleagues … and in providing instant access to an overwhelming amount of information. I can remember working off a large, non-portable desktop computer with a bulky monitor and dot matrix printer. Technology has made a major impact on how we all work these days, not to mention how much!
  2. I’ve also changed – I’m older, wiser (not to mention a little wider), and more confident in my abilities and value as a trusted business advisor. In addition, I’m delighted to have added “published author” to my credentials.*

What hasn’t changed since I’ve been in business?

  1. The need to take care of employees and customers. Given a global economy with more competition and more choice, it’s harder than ever to attract and retain customers and effectively engage employees in the process. A “high tech-high touch”approach is still relevant.
  2. My respect for and relationships with my clients, past and present. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship where we learn from each other. I feel privileged to have worked with so many wonderful people, many of whom I’m still in touch with regardless of whether we worked together for many years or on a once-and-done project basis.

What I’m thankful for

In honor of my business milestone and in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for many things:

  • My clients – for the opportunity to serve them + grow both professionally and personally in the process.
  • My colleagues – for their peer mentoring, advice, and sharing of ideas.
  • My blog readers and fellow blogging buddies – for their continued interest in internal marketing & communications and inspiring new posts.
  • And my family – for their continued love and support.

Best wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

*In honor of this 20th anniversary, and in time for the holiday season, I’m happy to offer a special 20% discount off the purchase of my book, Taking Care of the People Who Matter Most: A Guide to Employee-Customer Care, from now through Dec. 31, 2008, when you order online from WME Books. Be sure to enter special discount code QSM109 in the coupon code box.

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Internal Marketing Spotlight: Zappos (Part 3)

As a specialist in employee-customer care, I continue to be impressed with Zappos.com. While my previous posts in this Spotlight series highlight what I’ve learned about the company, what really matters are the employees’ perceptions of the organization. After all, they’re the ones most familiar with it.

They’ve even written books about it. Seriously. Each year employees are asked to express their thoughts on what the Zappos culture means to them, and the results are compiled in their annual Culture Book. The 2008 edition is nearly 500 pages!

[Note: Special thanks to Zappos.com for permission to cite the following excerpts here.]

Zappos Culture – from the CEO’s perspective

To explain what the Culture Book is all about, here’s part of the book’s introduction by Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO.

“… In order for us to succeed as a service company, we need to create, maintain, and grow a culture where employees want to play a part in providing great service. I’ve been asked a number of times what the company’s biggest asset is, and my answer is always the same: the CULTURE.

“As we grow as a company and hire new people, we need to make sure that they understand and become a part of our CULTURE. This is the purpose of this book – to provide a glimpse of what the Zappos CULTURE is all about to new hires, prospective new hires, our vendors and partners, and anyone else who might be interested.

“So what is the Zappos CULTURE? To me, the Zappos CULTURE embodies many different elements. It’s always looking for new ways to WOW everyone we come in contact with. It’s about building relationships where we treat each other like family. It’s about teamwork and having fun and not taking ourselves too seriously. It’s about growth, both personal and professional. It’s about achieving the impossible with fewer people. It’s about openness, taking risks, and not being afraid to make mistakes. But most of all, it’s about having faith that if we do the right thing, then in the long run we will succeed and build something great. …

“Of course, the Zappos CULTURE means different things to different people, so I thought the best way for people to learn what the Zappos CULTURE was all about was to hear from our employees directly … “        © 2008 Zappos.com, Inc.

Zappos Culture – from the Employees’ Perspective

Here’s a sample of contributions from three employees:

“To me, Zappos Culture comes back [to] our mission statement: To live and deliver WOW. … Sometimes you’re delivering it and sometimes you’re receiving it from our fellow friends here, but there seems to be an ever-constant saturation of WOW. To truly understand what WOW is, I think the following statements describe it best:

  • WOW is waking up in the morning and not dreading work.
  • WOW is having Christmas in July taken seriously (full tree, presents, and everything) 
  • WOW is having a random Nerf Gun fight.
  • WOW is having the power to make decisions and being able to stand by them. 
  • WOW is saying that the company you work for cares about people and really means it.”

“Zappos Culture is all about building open and honest relationships through communication. This is the first place I have ever worked where time is taken to understand what you are feeling, thinking or contemplating. Because of this open communication, problems are resolved quickly, feelings are hurt less often and one can stay on track at being the BEST at delivering WOW.”

“Like a joyous occasion, Zappos Culture is one to be had. A culture rooted in great ideas filled with smiling faces, pleasant greetings, superb service, good intent and plenty of generosity. (And don’t even get me started with the abundance of free food and, of course, happy hours :)). A culture that is like none other; it’s almost surreal. A culture that begs for participation and strives on spirit. A culture that is irreplaceable. Zappos Culture – a culture worth the experience.”
© 2008 Zappos.com, Inc.

For more “WOW!” check out the ‘Inside Zappos’ blog … and while you’re at it, shop around Zappos.com to get a customer’s perspective.

Categories
Customer service Marketing Training & Development

“Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic” That We Can All Learn

Every service provider is challenged with engaging employees and creating systems to deliver a positive customer experience, but none more so than those who work in healthcare. So what can be learned from the Mayo Clinic? This excerpt, from the book Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic by Leonard Berry and Kent Seltman, explains it best:

“Imagine what can be learned from an organization that serves customers who:

  1. arrive with some combination of illness or injury, pain uncertainty, and fear
  2. give up most of their freedoms if hospitalized
  3. need the service but dread it
  4. typically relinquish their privacy (and modesty) to clinicians they may be meeting for the first time.

“Mayo Clinic and other well-run healthcare organizations serve just these kinds of special customers who are called patients and still earn high praise and fierce loyalty from them. Yes, indeed, a successful healthcare organization offers important lessons for most business organizations.”

Inside Mayo Clinic

There’s quite a story behind the powerful and enduring brand that is the Mayo Clinic with its emphasis on patient-first care, medical research and education, an integrated approach to healthcare, and a strong partnership between physicians and administrators (an adversarial relationship in many hospitals). Co-authors Leonard Berry, Distinguished Professor of Marketing at Texas A&M (one of my mentors), and Kent Seltman, former Marketing Director at the Mayo Clinic, studied Mayo Clinic’s service culture through in-depth interviews and observing patient-clinician interactions.

Their book paints a fascinating picture of the history and culture of Mayo Clinic, including how it engineers its internal systems to support its patient-first mission. Best of all, the book contains great lessons on creating and managing a brand that has achieved incredible growth in a difficult and challenging industry while staying true to its core values. The story is even more amazing given ongoing medical technological advances and the financial and political pressures placed on the healthcare profession.

Listening to the Voice of the Customer

Berry and Seltman share numerous quotes and testimonials from patients, their families, doctors, nurses, administrators, and their families, to illustrate the Mayo Clinic story. (Some of the anecdotes brought me to tears.) Even with Mayo Clinic’s unique position in healthcare, the authors do a great job discussing lessons applicable to other service firms in the “Lessons for Managers” section throughout the book.

One of my favorite chapters describes how Mayo Clinic manages the different types of clues that positively impact the customer experience:

  • demonstrating competence to instill customer confidence – e.g., with a collaborative team approach to patient care and integrated & timely access to medical records.
  • influencing first impressions and expectations – such as the design of physical space to convey a sense of healing and calm to reduce the stress of patients and staff.
  • exceeding customer expectations – including extraordinary sensitivity to patients and their families.

I recommend Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic to all service management, marketing and branding professionals … and everyone who works in healthcare.

Caution: the only downside after reading this book is the possible dissatisfaction with most healthcare institutions. If my family or I need critical care, my first choice would be Mayo Clinic!

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Employee-Customer Care Podcast Now Available

My podcast interview from my recent virtual book tour with Phil Gerbyshak is finally up following some audio glitches.

To my readers – thanks for your patience.

To Phil – thanks for your diligence in fixing and posting the audio file!

Categories
Customer service Engagement Marketing

“Punching In” Delivers Knock-Out Insight

For a fascinating look at life as a front-line employee in some well-known retail and service companies, read Punching In by Alex Frankel. Frankel spent two years working undercover as a frontline employee for UPS, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Gap, Starbucks, and Apple Store.

 

His adventure was prompted by his interest in discovering how these well known companies selected and trained employees and melded them into the corporate culture to deliver on the brand promise. Frankel’s experience provides insight into the hiring process (ranging from online psychological tests to The Container Store’s in-store group interviews) and the impact of formal as well as informal training and sharing of corporate values & norms.

Note to all who oversee their organizations’ orientation programs and/or are involved in trying to codify the employee and customer experience, including helping employees evolve into brand ambassadors – read this book and consider how your organization would have fared if Frankel wrote about you. (Better yet, ask your own employees … )

Punching In explores the human role in retail and service operations. Given my bias for positive employee-customer care, I loved one of the critical lessons Frankel learned from his frontline adventure:

” … I found that many of the best companies have not only realized that humans matter but have also moved ahead of competitors by finding, hiring, and training great people to work for them. People have become as much of a competitive weapon for many companies as the actual products they sell.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Catch Me on “Women in Business Radio”

I’m excited to be a guest on the Women in Business program on wsRadio, hosted by Dr. Gayle Carson, this evening (April 15) at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST, where I’ll be interviewed about my book, Taking Care of the People Who Matter Most: A Guide to Employee-Customer Care.

Dr. Carson (aka the “Wiz of Biz” and a “Spunky Old Broad”) has built her career on advising and coaching CEO’s and entrepreneurial managers, so I’m really looking forward to talking with her.

Hope you’ll tune in tonight for tonight’s broadcast!

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Wharton Study: Employee Satisfaction Contributes to Bottom Line

Concern for employees’ satisfaction is more than just a “feel good” aspect of management. Wharton professor Alex Edmans’ recent study confirms that happy workers positively impact financial success.

His study examined the stock returns of companies from Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work for in America” between 1998 and 2005 and found they had higher financial returns – more than double those of the overall market.

According to Edmans, “One might think this is an obvious relationship – that you don’t need to do a study showing that if workers are happy, the company performs better. But actually, it’s not that obvious. Traditional management theory [still] treats workers like any other input – get as much out of them as possible and pay them as little as you can get away with.”

Part of the problem is rooted in managers’ short-term thinking as they are measured and rewarded on short-term results. Investing in employees, however, is considered to be a long term proposition … despite the fact that it can pay off.

Edmans’ research is the latest of numerous studies citing the financial impact of employee satisfaction. One of my favorites is the 1997 classic The Service Profit Chain, by Harvard B-school professors James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser, and Leonard A. Schlesinger, that documented the self-reinforcing relationship between employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and the bottom line. While a lot has changed in the 10+ years since the book was published, the need to pay attention to employees is as important as ever.

Categories
Engagement

“Straight A Management”

For fascinating insight into the work attitudes of Gen X and Millennials, check out Rebecca Ryan’s Live First, Work Second. Ryan’s firm, Next Generation Consulting, is a market research firm focused on engaging young professionals.

I particularly liked Ryan’s formula for attracting and retaining talent in the 20 to 40 age cohort – “Straight-A Management” – as a response to what she cites as an epidemic of bad management. Based on David Richo’s work (How to Be an Adult in Relationships), Straight-A Management involves:

  • Acceptance – being accepting of diversity among employees.
  • Affection – creating a sense of affiliation & collegiality.
  • Allowance – supporting employees’ professional aspirations.
  • Appreciation – acknowledging employees’ contributions to their work.
  • Attention – being attentive and accessible.

Although the book is about attracting and retaining the young professionals, Ryan advocates the importance of people-centered management to engage employees of ALL ages. This approach is consistent with the time-honored advice that “you must engage employees’ heads and hearts if you want to get the best from your people.”

I couldn’t have said it better.