Question

Topic: Other

Customers In The Minds Of Employees

Posted by k.pohlman on 9/11/2007 at 10:17 AM ET 500 Points
As Marketing professionals we are constantly focused on customers but sadly this is not always true of our co-workers.

What suggestions can you give me for trying to increase customer awareness in the minds of co workers?

It was suggested to have some of our testimonial ads made into posters and I've invited technical staff to work at focus groups which helped but that doesn't cover the other departments.

Please grace me with your infinite knowledge oh respected peers!!! I need to move on this quickly.

Thanks in advance!
To continue reading this question and the solution, sign up ... it's free!
SUBSCRIBE
Or, SIGN IN

RESPONSES

  • Posted on 9/11/2007 at 10:47 AM Accepted
    Hi,

    I faced the same problems in the establishment i ws previously working fr..Hwever I will share with you what we did to improvize on the situation..you could conduct pride in brand workshops to explain on hw cusotmers are the most integral part of any service and should reiterate on the company goal of customer centricity.. and could also establish a forum fr customer feed back and in these wrshops , you could reward those employees wh'ove gone out of the way to do somethng fr a customer(Based on the feedback u gt) or you could have a devoted column on your intranet fr such awards which ideally should monthly or fornightly events...or if it as an incentive based job then a very small propotion of it could also be based on hw an employee's service ws customer centric (which offcourse should be measured on some very objective parameters)...

    hope this bit helps!

    Amy
  • Posted by k.pohlman on 9/11/2007 at 12:04 PM Author
    Thanks for the advice,

    Fortunately for me, my "mission" was given to me by the president of the North American area so buy in shouldn't be an issue. ha ha

    So far, I'm looking at creating posters featuring actual customers with either customer focused quotes or with the company's core values that focus on customers.

    Keep the ideas coming....they are all extremely helpful to me!
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 9/11/2007 at 12:18 PM Accepted
    Posters alone won't do much. Ideally, you want your customers to be in front of your employees and tell them how what they did mattered to their lives (so it becomes more than simply selling to meet quotas).

    Given the size of your organization, you might consider creating a video of what made a difference in the lives of your customers. Close ups of the people talking. Emotional content. The videos could be available for internal downloading and/or a group showing (followed by a discussion).

    The posters would be of the people in the video - so the static words don't get ignored - they reinforce the emotional punch of the videos.
  • Posted on 9/11/2007 at 1:15 PM Accepted
    As a small retail business owner, my employees are my most important marketing tool. I'm very careful to hire employees who get the culture of my business. One of the things that I find effective is getting employees involved. I.E. I'm not telling them, they tell me. They are talking to customers and getting their feedback every day. As I am small and have fewer employees than most, one tool that is effective for us is our daily log. Participation is required and actually enjoyed. Employees are able to share customer feedback, as well as experiences with customers, good & BAD. I'm able to constantly give feedback as to how well they are doing and give reminders to employees. I believe that part of our culture is an intangible thing that we get and our customers get, but maybe can't be put into words. Our constant communication enables us to give better, more consistent customer service, have bond with our customers and eachother. My employees can't wait to see what is new in the log. They are even encouraged to share when they blow it with a customer. We don't recriminate, we learn from it. They even put in their gripes and complaints about customers, and as a moderator of sorts I try to help them keep a healthy perspective. When they are able to say what isn't working, we as a group are able to come up with solutions, and sometimes I find situations where I need to jump in and deal with a situation that I may not have been aware of without a constant, formal type system in place.
    I know this would be harder in a larger
    entity, but my point is your people are the launching point of your brand, so what is their perspective?
  • Posted by k.pohlman on 9/11/2007 at 1:59 PM Author
    I believe a lot of the concern over employees 'awareness' of our customers stems from being a larger company. A vast majority of them do not have direct contact with the end customers.

    My thought is that many get wrapped up in their own needs and forget that the requests that coworkers make are based upon the end customers' needs.

    So it's not just a matter of external customers but possibly some internal customer concerns.

    Ktacket reminded me of training I received in the past that I may need to look in to...Owner of the Business, in which employees are encouraged to look at what they do from a perspective of 'if they owned the business.'

    Jay-Great idea! I'll be doing a focus group in the near future and planned on getting application footage, I'll have to add 'live testimonials' to my list of things to shoot.
  • Posted by k.pohlman on 9/11/2007 at 2:32 PM Author
    Thanks Barq- I have a 20 min drive in to work so that will be perfect.

    As for the Focus Group, many of the responses given were useful. In my case, the first one went so well with so much positive feedback from the attending staff that the event "justified itself." We acquired more qualitative information than quantitative but definitely generated a lot of interest in our products.

    It's been difficult to track how many (if any) sales were generated by our little road show because our intent was strictly to obtain feedback and any sales would have been handled through the local dealer.

  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 9/12/2007 at 1:26 AM Member
    Hi Kristie

    How often do we hear someone trying to get their whole organisation closer to the customer, only to find it's a kind of marketing fantasy, and the practically whole of the rest of the organisation seems to want to put barriers in the way?

    McDonalds used to have an "In Service" day - I've implemented precisely the same in a similar business - where everyone in the business who doesn't regularly work front of house gets to work a whole shift serving customers, all on the same day.

    Everyone. From the CEO to the head of HR, CFO to accountant, bookkeeper and filing clerk, Marketing exec to the inventory clerk. No exceptions, no excuses.

    The following week, there's a huge feedback session, surveys, focus groups, etc.

    You'd be amazed what an incredible amount of change arises out of these days. Managers realise what awful working conditions staff have. They understand the implications of buying the cheap mops, the lower quality packaging, the tighter spaces in working areas. The wastage caused onsite when poor quality components are used. The customer frustration when a batch-prepared product runs out and the in-store processes take 10 minutes to get back on line. The difficult customers who seem to take delight in being obnoxious.

    And from those changes a vastly better product gets created for the customer. It takes time, of course, but it does work.

    Sure, include line staff in focus groups, that will be a huge step forward. But the ultimate understanding comes from getting the whole team to walk a mile in the customer service front line staff's shoes.

    They often find that is a painful mile. No pain, no gain. What doesn't kill you, makes you a WHOLE lot stronger!

    Hope that helps.

    ChrisB
  • Posted by k.pohlman on 9/12/2007 at 9:19 AM Author
    Thank you all for your feedback!!! It has ALL been extremely helpful. I chose the answers that will work best for my industry.

    The reason I didn't specify my industry in the forum is because methods used in other industries can sometimes be used creatively in others, if only aspects of them. (not to mention that they may help others with similar projects)

    THANKS AGAIN ONE AND ALL!!!!!
BACK TO TOP

Post a Comment

Related Discussions

Community Info

Top 25 Experts
(Other)