Tag: corporate culture

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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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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

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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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

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!

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Engagement Marketing

Got History to Celebrate? They’re Not Just for Holidays!

Happy July 4th!

How does this holiday tie-in with internal marketing?  Glad you asked!

Independence Day is a festive holiday honoring a historic anniversary. But this type of anniversary need not be limited to a national celebration.

Phyllis Barr, founder of Corporate Culture Marketing by Barr Consulting Services in New York [ladyhistory@earthlink.net], specializes in “corporate memory marketing.” She helps organizations document their corporate history and leverage anniversary celebrations as a marketing tool – good for public/community relations, brand reinforcement, nonprofit fund raising, employee/stakeholder relations, etc.

So a company’s heritage can be used for internal as well as external marketing purposes.  According to Phyllis, this history “makes up the corporate culture and affects how an organization and its brands are viewed.”

Corporate history needs to be shared – through staff training materials, orientation, on the intranet, etc. – to “make employees better and more knowledgeable” and reinforce pride in their affiliation with their employer.  In her work as a writer, researcher, historian, and marketer, Phyllis has found that sharing a company’s history adds to employee loyalty. And a company able to highlight its reputation through its history also has a great recruiting tool.

In my next post I’ll share some examples of how organizations have marked their anniversaries in meaningful ways.  In the meantime, enjoy this holiday weekend!

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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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Engagement Marketing

Happy Employees & Organizational Success

My last posting looked at the relationship between happy employees and happy customers.  Taking this one step further, do happy employees ensure organizational success?

My answer: it depends.  It depends on a lot of things – such as the utility and value of your firm’s product/service offering, market demand, and competition (to name a few).

If your organization provides a product or service that doesn’t meet market needs and/or has little real or perceived value, or if your competitors are doing a way better job, you won’t be in business long no matter how happy your employees are.  And you won’t have satisfied customers either.

The answer also depends on your business model.  The marketplace can change rapidly, putting pressure even on those firms with happy employees & customers.  Conversely, some companies with a toxic workplace or culture do well in spite of themselves (sad, but true).

Let’s get real … sometimes bad things happen to good organizations. and sometimes good things happen to bad organizations.  But which type of organization would you rather work for?

Categories
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.