Recently, I visited a neighborhood restaurant and placed a take-out order. Easy transaction, you might think, but you’d be wrong. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. With no manager in sight, I decided that a blog post with a copy to the company’s CEO would be my only recourse.
As we all know, the casual dining space is very crowded. While more upscale than fast-food options, such as, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Pollo Loco, there are restaurants that claim they provide a quality customer experience. While these restaurants don’t have white tablecloths, 14 karat gold utensils, or waiters in tuxedos, they offer more than the cookie-cutter McDonald’s menu. At the casual dining restaurants, you place your order by reading a large menu on the wall, pay for your meal, and then find a table. Your food is delivered to your table – often with a smile and a request to bring anything else you might want or need.
Now back to my recent experience: after I placed my order and paid, the employee gave me my change. I immediately noticed an error and asked for the correct change. The employee looked at me and was clearly annoyed. He said, “No one has ever asked for exact change before.”
In the words of Annette Franz Gleneicki, Voice of the Customer expert (@CXJourney on Twitter) and fellow positive customer experience advocate, “Regardless of whether it’s one cent or one dollar, it’s not up to the employee to decide whether you get change or not. Maybe some people don’t care about a penny or small amounts of change, but it’s the principle. Employees should never assume anything about the customer. For that matter, companies in general should never assume they know (anything about) their customers. They should ask AND they should listen.”
According to Anna Papachristos of 1to1 Media (@AP1to1 on Twitter), “To gain the advantage in today’s competitive market, brands must work to understand the customer experience.”
Here’s proof that this restaurant’s employee did not understand the customer experience:
[1] The time of the transaction was 7pm, and the restaurant closed at 8pm. If someone had already emptied the registers, and there was no cash to make change, then employees should have alerted customers at the beginning of any orders taken after 7pm.
[2] If the employee did not have sufficient cash in his register to complete my transaction, he should have explained the situation and asked another employee to share cash from another register.
[3] If the employee did not count the change correctly, he should have apologized and rectified the situation by providing the additional change.
[4] Under no circumstances should the employee have become noticeably annoyed because a customer requested correct change
[5] A customer should never be put in a situation where he has to request change that is rightfully his.
According to Gary Edwards, the Chief Customer Officer of Empathica (@DoctorGE on Twitter), “By understanding the customer journey, brands can quickly identify where they are failing to meet or exceed customer expectations, as well as help identify the key drivers of loyalty on which to focus, ways to change staff behavior, and how to leverage brand advocates when working towards improving overall experience.”
Where was the employee training in this restaurant? Where was the attention to customer service? And where was the attention to the customer experience? This will not come as a surprise, but I will not be returning to this restaurant.
Can you guess the restaurant? Share your guess in the comments section.
Image Credit: Gualberto107 via FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
How does your company respond to customers? Are questions answered in a timely manner? Are problems resolved by return email or phone call? Does your customer service department operate 24/7 or only within specific hours? Do members of your customer service team have the authority to go above and beyond to make sure that customers are happy? Do your customer service reps assume customers are wrong when they complain? As you consider these questions and the overall concept of customer experiences, fasten your seat belt and get ready for some astounding statistics.
“In the United States alone, roughly $83 billion is lost each year as a result of poor customer experiences. (1) That’s more than the revenue for the entire US e-commerce retail sector. (2)”
While some companies understand how customer service impacts and improves financial performance, there are far too many that are clueless. The IBM Center for Applied Insights regularly surveys professionals from around the world and across many industries and recently announced the results of the IBM State of Marketing 2013 Survey. Hopefully, the results will prompt you to re-consider how you treat customers in your day-to-day business interactions and improve all of your customer touchpoints.
“Last year, forward-thinking marketers were working hard to redefine their role and influence within the enterprise. Today, they’ve earned a seat at the business strategy table and are taking on the hard world of “owning” the customer experience across the enterprise. They’re seeking to integrate customer insight and omnichannel engagement – including social and mobile, as well as more traditional channels – to coordinate activities and improve the overall customer experience.”
The data showed that leading companies outperformed financially because their marketing leaders shared three key characteristics:
[1] Know customer context and integrate accordingly – demonstrate flexibility and responsiveness to fast-shifting expectations and circumstances.
[2] Act on insights systematically – make good use of technology to develop customer insights and act on them in a consistent manner.
[3] Take a broader view of the customer experience – use rigorous measurement to guide actions and build customer relationships that grow and strengthen over time.
The survey provided an example from a well-known international brand that many of us will recognize. “Consider how Apple has taken ownership of the entire customer experience by using marketing technology, insight, and engagement in a carefully orchestrated way. When customers want to schedule an in-store service appointment, they encounter a seamless blend of live web information and interaction, relevant in-store displays, and in-person employee interaction that is both customized to them and made more convenient by mobile technology. The entire process flows smoothly. An experience like this does more than employ channels effectively. It sends a powerful message that the brand is invested in building a better customer relationship by making it easier to interact and conduct transactions. This cross-channel illustration displays broad understanding, knowledge of context, and ability to take systematic action, all brought to life through a single customer interaction.”
How about your brand? While your brand doesn’t own the customer experience in the same manner as Apple does, there are definitely ways in which you can improve your process. Perhaps, you can improve your brand’s packaging, distribution channels, pricing model, or promotional strategy. How often do you change your strategy in real-time? Do you combine multiple channels to share your messaging? Are all of your brand messages consistent? What happens with online transactions are abandoned? And do you track your customer lifetime value?
In the 2013 survey, “leading marketers clearly defined the customer context and its value to the business – and created a case for a larger role in the end-to-end customer experience…This expanded role expressed itself if many ways. These range from an in-depth understanding of how different touchpoints affect customer context to deeper involvement in individual channel activities related to customer experience, such as, brand training for call center and sales staff. This broader view of – and involvement in – the customer experience makes leading marketers stewards of their brands, able to bring clarity, consistency, and high standards to every customer interaction.”
Leading companies extended the influence of marketing in much higher percentages than their competitors:
[1] They contacted customers to gauge their satisfaction.
[2] They monitored and tracked delivery commitments to ensure fulfillment.
[3] They identified cross and upsell opportunities for sales and customer-facing staff.
[4] They trained sales and customer-facing staff on product and service lines.
[5] They designed marketing offers for point of purchase.
“Leaders use every interaction as an opportunity to enhance the overall experience. To do this well, a company needs to be hypersensitive to not only behavior, history, and preferences, but also the real-time circumstances customers are facing…[And also] a clear vision of the end game. [Leaders] view marketing as much more than a siloed function. Its influence – and responsibility – extends across the entire buy/market/sell/service cycle to bring all channels and all kinds of interaction together.”
So, what about your business? What have the highlights from this IBM report prompted you to change in your outlook about customer experience marketing – and implement as a result?
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To read the entire report, here’s the link: http://j.mp/153u8iy
(1) Poor Customer Service Costs Companies $83 Billion Annually:
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/122502/#axzz2VqTBpIp
(2) Data from the U.S. Department of Commerce:
http://www.census.gov/retail
Image Credit: Image created on tagxedo.com.
This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.
If you ask people to define a brand, you’ll get hundreds of definitions. Everything from a company’s main product to secondary products to a tagline to a competitive differentiator can all define your brand. But as customer engagement expert Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) explains, “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room. The room is the web, it’s getting bigger, and it’s social.”
So, do you know what people say about your brand? Do you monitor brand mentions in social media? What do those metrics mean? Since my favorite marketing discussions focus on brand development, brand equity, and branding strategies, I asked 25 fellow brand marketers to share their favorite marketing tips.
Julie Hunt (@juliebhunt): Branding is becoming more than names, logos, and company identity. Positive customer experience is becoming entwined with brand value.
Bernadette Jiwa (@bernadettejiwa): We think our job is to change how people feel about our product or service. But, in fact, our job is to change how people feel about themselves when they use that product or service.
William Arruda (@williamarruda): Engage all employees in the brand promise from sourcing and onboarding through separation. They’re all brand assets and potent ambassadors.
Doug Rawady (@dougrawady): Make sure that your brand is integrated into your organization’s DNA such that every aspect of the business reflects and is in-sync with the brand’s promise.
Julia Carcamo (@jccarcamo): Know your audience. It will help you understand what the experience needs to be and how to communicate it.
Michael A. Stelzner (@Mike_Stelzner): Create an unforgettable image for your site. We use a cartoon character that people don’t forget.
John Freshney (@WiseCrow1): Focus your branding on what you are great at, not what you aspire to be. Staff will live your brand, and customers will love the experience.
Kent Huffman (@KentHuffman): Focus your messaging on the most significant differentiator your brand offers and what value that brings to your customers.
Jay Baer (@jaybaer): Don’t be afraid to make the story bigger. Engage with your customers and prospects in ways that improve their lives, even if it’s not your products and services. Remember, helping beats selling.
Jeffrey Summers (@JeffreySummers): You build better brands through better guest experiences. You build better guest experiences by adding meaningfully differentiated value at every single guest touchpoint.
Tim Moore (@TimMoore): Build your brand around relationships, not rules, policies, color palettes, or buzzwords. If you do, the “out of business” clock is ticking.
Paul Biedermann (@PaulBiedermann): Be consistent with your branding throughout your various channels and marketing touchpoints, both online and offline.
Brandemix (@Brandemix): Make the brand authentic. It must reflect a company’s actual mission, vision, and values. Otherwise, it’s a false promise.
Karl Speak (@speakk and @brandtoolbox)): Creating and sustaining a strong alignment between employees’ personal brands and an organization’s brand is the most powerful brand strategy.
Neal Schaffer (@NealSchaffer): You are what you tweet – make sure you update your branding guidelines to include your voice for social media.
Aaron Biebert (@Biebert): Always look good. Don’t put out low-level pictures, videos, or designs. People don’t trust outdated or poorly-designed brands.
Sandi Krakowski (@sandikrakowski): Focus on relationships. This will increase conversion.
JD Lasica (@jdlasica): Branding is not about design or logos or look. It’s about positioning and messaging. Your company needs a consistent message to the public, whether it’s your website, social channels, marketing collateral, or banner flying over Giants Stadium. Tell your story across different media and formats, and understand that, in the end, your customers determine your brand. Be yourself and be true.
Brand You Consulting (@BrandYOUGroup): Understand that the market is constantly changing. Position your brand one step ahead so you’re the one affecting change instead of being affected by it.
Sisarina (@Sisarina and @MelanieSpring): Spend time and money on a logo and make sure you hire an expert to pull it out of you.
Fiona Vesey (@FionaVesey): It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it. Building rapport with potential customers is all about doing the right things, as opposed to saying the right things. Choosing the right tone of voice, the correct marketing mediums, through to whether you use a giveaway versus a discount – these all affect how people interpret what you say about your brand.
Kathi Kruse (@kathikruse): It’s never been more important to have a customer-centric culture. Everything you say and do – including how you treat your employees – is being broadcast throughout the web. Make sure your culture is ready for prime time. Being able to tell the story of your business in a meaningful way connects your brand to your prospects and customers. By communicating how you do business, you initiate the customer experience long before they walk on the lot or visit your website.
Phil Gerbyshak (@philgerb): Be as consistent as possible in usernames so they can be easily remembered and mention the actual URL.
Anna Rydne (@CoSkills): Find your authentic voice! That’s the most important thing when building relationships with customers.
David Brier (@davidbrier): Cookie cutters are for baking, not branding. It’s one of those points too often overlooked by companies, so to carry the cooking metaphor further, it goes like this: Companies use the same ingredients as one another. These being the same clichés, the same imagery, the same tired formula messages, yet they expect a different result. If two or more chefs used the same ingredients, the only way one would outshine the other would be to apply ingenuity, using one of the ingredients in a different way, using it in some unexpected approach, shaking it up. Otherwise, their cooking efforts would all blend and be impossible to distinguish one from the other, kind of like today’s all-you-can-eat-buffets of endless brand messages. If you omit the ingenuity and the insight to use some ingredient differently, you won’t be branding, you’ll wind up blanding, which is worse (and flatter) than the flattest (and least palatable) soufflé.
And finally, I wish to thank Ken Peters (Person of Interest, Nocturnal Branding Studio) for my favorite statement on this subject: “Advertising shouts at you. Marketing talks to you. Branding connects with you.”
What’s your favorite branding tip? Please chime in.
Image Credit: Thanks to Ted Goff for use of his cartoon with this post. Check out Ted's work at http://www.tedgoff.com.
This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.
Department store chain Kohl’s has created a new role as part of its executive team. An executive from Starbucks, Michelle Gass, recently joined Kohl’s as its first Chief Customer Officer.
According to Wikipedia, a Chief Customer Officer (CCO) is “the executive responsible in customer-centric companies for the total relationship with customers. This position was developed to provide a single vision across all methods of customer contact. The CCO is often responsible for influencing corporate activities of customer relations in the call center, sales, marketing, user interface, finance (billing), fulfillment, and post-sale support. The CCO typically reports to the chief executive officer, and is potentially a member of the board of directors.”
According to the Chief Customer Officer Council, the CCO is “an executive who provides the comprehensive and authoritative view of the customer and creates corporate and customer strategy at the highest levels of the company to maximize customer acquisition, retention, and profitability.”
Let’s return to Kohl’s. There is no denying that its new CCO has experience with one of the world’s most well-known brands, but can that experience be applied toward apparel and housewares? In addition, how can the development of industry-leading coffee drinks, such as the Frappucino, help to re-energize the customer experience at Kohl’s?
When it comes to industries, the department store chain industry is radically different from the coffee bar/restaurant industry. While Starbucks revolutionized the coffee drinking experience and coffee industry, it’s light years away from apparel. While customers may purchase coffee machines in its stores, the majority of Starbucks customers purchase coffee or other drinks at its locations. And no one makes a trip to Starbucks to buy apparel.
When it comes to target audiences, visitors to Starbucks coffee stores differ from Kohl’s shoppers. While Kohl’s tagline is “Expect Great Things,” no one can say that shopping at Kohl’s is the same experience as shopping at Nordstrom or Bloomingdale’s. At Kohl’s, the focus is “incredible savings, hassle-free returns, and easy shopping.” As a result, the entire concept of customer experience cannot be copied and pasted.
It is admirable that Kohl’s places the same importance on the customer experience as more highbrow companies, but the jury is still out as to whether the company can successfully execute customer experience marketing initiatives that will create the same level of customer experiences as industry leaders such as Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, and Nordstrom.
What about your business? Do you have a Chief Customer Officer? If not, do you have plans for adding one in the future? Why or why not?
________________
Thanks to fellow IBM blogger, Shadra Bruce, for her article’s inspiration for this post.
http://www.midsizeinsider.com/en-us/article/gass-to-pioneer-chief-customer-officer-r
Note: Above abbreviations correspond to the following C-Level roles:
Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Administrative Officer/Chief Diversity Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Information Officer/Chief Information Security Officer, Chief Legal Officer, Chief Marketing Officer/Chief Branding Officer, and Chief Customer Officer.
This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.
In today’s competitive marketplace, a compelling story is critical for your brand to remain front and center with customers and prospective customers. If your business does not create a compelling story that connects with prospective and existing customers or strikes a nerve, your business will not last very long.
What brand stories immediately come to mind? Here are some.
[1] You know him as Mark, Mark Z, or simply as Zuck. But we all suspect that we know the story (thanks to the movie, The Social Network). Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard so that he could dedicate himself 24/7 to the creation of a networking website. The website now known as Facebook has revolutionized how we connect with friends, family, and others – and has become an international phenomenon with over 1 billion users. According to ZDNet, users log in for 12 and-a-half minutes every day. And according to ComScore, U.S. desktop users spend 6 hours a month on Facebook, while mobile users spend an average of 11 hours on the site.
[2] Most people attribute the automobile to Henry Ford. But in actuality, he developed and manufactured the first auto that many middle-class Americans could afford. He was also instrumental in the development of the assembly line and a franchise system of dealerships throughout the United States and on six continents. One famous statement of his was, “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” Thank goodness, the Ford vehicles started the auto industry, or we’d all be riding horses.
[3] While Susan Komen for the Cure has been in the news recently, the main reason that the charity was created is a compelling story. The founder (Nancy G. Brinker) launched the charity to honor the memory of her sister (Susan G. Komen) who died of breast cancer and to raise money to eliminate the disease. Despite all the current negative press, the color pink will forever represent that charity and breast cancer awareness.
[4] While the publishing industry is undergoing a transition from print to digital, there is one newspaper that embodies its city, The New York Times. While you may not know the newspaper began in the mid-1800’s, there is no doubt that you have heard of The New York Times Crossword Puzzle, Art and Theater, Op-Ed section, and the Opinion section. Whenever someone wants to be heard, he or she comments in The New York Times. The newspaper’s motto was “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” but on its website, the motto was changed to, “All the News That’s Fit to Click.”
[5] According to Southwest Airlines Chairman/President and CEO Gary Kelly, “Southwest was conceived on a cocktail napkin when San Antonio businessman Rollin King and his attorney, Herb Kelleher, met at the St. Anthony Club and etched out what would become the “Texas Triangle,” charting a path for low-fare travel between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. The vision was simple: offer business people a faster, more efficient way to travel at a lower cost and do it with warm, personable service and a smile.” Kelleher knew that in order for his employees to do a good job, they had to have fun. So Southwest allowed flight attendants to wear shorts instead of uncomfortable uniforms and tell silly jokes to passengers over the intercom. The airline continues to provide peanuts, soft drinks, and juice – when competitors charge or don’t offer any food or drinks. Southwest also invites passengers to travel with their baggage without charging, because according to their ads, “Bags fly free.”
So, as you contemplate the importance of storytelling for your brand, consider these questions. How do you decide on a compelling story? What elements do you include and which do you leave out? What is an appropriate length for your story? Do you feature a person (for example, your founder) in your story? But above all, what is the key take-away from your brand’s story, and is it easy to grasp or embrace?
If you cannot easily answer these questions, you need to go back to the brand drawing board and rewrite your brand story, or you’re going to lose customers. What’s YOUR favorite brand story?
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Image Credit: Thanks to Tom Fishburne for use of his cartoon with this post. Tom is the Founder and CEO of Marketoon Studios, a content marketing studio that helps businesses reach their audiences with cartoons. Check out his work at http://tomfishburne.com.
This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.
There are many statistics about employee engagement, but the most important fact that no one will deny is that employee productivity is tied to profits. When employees are disengaged and unproductive, there are fewer sales. By contrast, when employees surpass quotas with high productivity, sales rise. Therefore, productivity results in happier employees who remain with their companies longer, which in turn, results in satisfied customers. So, what does your business do to promote employee engagement?
Have you ever seen an engaged employee? Do you know what one looks like? According to Wikipedia, “an engaged employee is one who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work and will act in a way that furthers an organization’s interests.”
However, a recent jobs report from Gallup found that:
[1] 70% of workers hate their jobs or are disengaged.
[2] Bad managers were the biggest cause of the high percentage of disengaged workers.
[3] When employees work remotely, they’re more engaged and productive.
As a result of those staggering statistics, I asked 25 of my favorite leadership and employee engagement experts to answer the question, “What one tip would you give to employers to promote employee engagement?” Here are their insightful tips.
John Baldoni (@JohnBaldoni): Connect the dots. Managers do their employers well by linking the work they do with the vision and mission of the organization. When employees know that what they do matters to the organization, they feel that they are making a contribution.
Shep Hyken (@Hyken): Want engaged employees? Create a FUN experience. FUN is an acronym for Fulfillment, Uniqueness, and Next. Employees want to be fulfilled; so treat them right and make them feel appreciated. Exploit them for their unique talents; what they’re good at and what they can offer that others might not. And get them excited about what’s next; the next project, the next new product, or even the next day.
Bob Kelleher (@BobKelleher): Here are my three tips: 1) Develop and brand a captivating Employer Value Proposition (why do people work here?) that galvanizes all employees from C-suite to new hires; 2) Make sure there is a focus on purpose, which is key to capturing your employees’ hearts and heads; and 3) Eliminate all perceived “caste” systems like executive parking spots, executive perk of flying business or first class, etc. – anything that says “We are better than you” or “Us vs. Them.”
Ronald Thomas (@ronald_thomas): Manage your workforce by walking around. In order to build trust, leaders must connect with their workforce. That means getting out of the offices and conference rooms and walking the floor. Stop by employees’ cubicles, take a seat, and see what they’re working on. Trust between workers and organizations has been broken, and the connection must be repaired.
Steve Curtin (@enthused): Be intentional about learning the names, hobbies and interests of your employees. When you see them at work, greet them by name and, as time permits, inquire about their hobbies and interests. When employees believe you care about them as people with lives, histories, families, and dreams, rather than just as full-time employees who occupy job roles that enable production, their commitment, job satisfaction, pride, and willingness to expend discretionary effort will soar.
Eric Jacobson (@EricKCExaminer): Discover each employee’s passion and provide him or her with an opportunity to experience that passion at work. For example, some people like to blog. Others enjoy taking photos. Many take pleasure in volunteering for the community. Too often, each person’s daily job responsibilities don’t allow time for these passions. So, identify and create ways to engage the blogger, photographer, community service leader, etc.
Leigh Branham (@ReEngageBook): Listen to your employees with every intention of responding with meaningful actions. This typically means conducting an employee engagement survey and taking PROMPT action on the issues surfaced that are most likely to: 1) increase general workforce engagement (or decrease disengagement); and 2) result in increased discretionary effort among employees considered most critical to achieving key business objectives. It’s shocking and depressing how many companies just conduct the survey to see what their score is without following up with actions to change the culture or improve management practices.
Rory Trotter (@RoryCTrotterJR): The single most effective way to promote employee engagement is to have managers sit down with their direct reports and discuss what the direct reports want out of their careers. Every employee should have a career development plan. This way, if employees feel that their efforts at work are as much of an investment in the company’s future as their own, they will dedicate their energy to the company, which aligns with high performance.
Bruce Temkin (@btemkin): Share the mission. Employees want to affiliate with organizations that have a sense of purpose, so make sure they understand the mission and continually reinforce how their actions support that mission.
Doug Dickerson (@managemntmoment): My advice to leaders is to set the example. Don’t promote engagement and leave it to others to implement. If you want your employees to be engaged, then you must show them how.
Cynthia Trivella (@CyndyTrivella): Never stop communicating. If you don’t have an organized and scheduled communications tool in place, create one. Often, leadership teams fail to get the buy-in and support they need from their employees. But more often than not, people will step up and participate if given the chance, but they first need to understand the goals of the organization.
Terri Scandura (@terriscandura): To increase employee engagement, leaders should develop exchange relationships with all followers on their teams.
Rebecca Bales (@LuminaLearning and @RebeccaLBales): According to recent Gallup findings, “When managers focus on their employees’ strengths, they can practically eliminate workplace disengagement.” This is huge because we know that people need to feel valued and that they make a difference. To leaders everywhere, prove that people make a difference in your business.
Adrian Swinscoe (@adrianswinscoe): I think it was Marcus Buckingham who first said, “People join companies and leave managers.” Therefore, my tip to employers who want to promote employee engagement is to invest in training for managers at all levels.
Lyn Boyer (@Lyn_Boyer): Employees must be challenged, and they must feel trusted, but they are only fully engaged when they have enjoyable relationships with supervisors and colleagues. Therefore, when employers build and promote workplace relationships, they enhance employee engagement.
Steve J. Gill (@sjgill): From the outset, tell new employees how their jobs contribute to the success of the organization. Keep reminding them of this and praise them frequently for contributing to the success of the organization. This applies to frontline employees as well as senior executives.
Mike Henry, Sr. (@mikehenrysr): Employers should help employees to create the best job possible for employees. This is a true partnership because an employee’s best job makes the employee happy, and a happy employee is also a great employee.
William Powell (LeadrshpAdvisor): Understand which emotions will create the type of engagement that your organization needs to achieve its goals. Whatever those emotions are, develop an appropriate culture featuring those emotions.
Sharlyn Lauby (@sharlyn_lauby): Create a feedback mechanism. It can be an employee survey, a town hall gathering, or dedicated one-on-one meetings. Find a method of sharing information and obtaining feedback. Then use the information to improve the workplace.
Louis Efron (@LouisEfron): Make every job the most important job at your company.
Scott McKain (@ScottMcKain): Employers should ask each employee: “If we could change ONE THING about how you do your job in order to make it easier for you to be more productive, what would you suggest?” And a corollary is: “If we could change ONE THING about your job to make it more enjoyable for you to become more engaged and productive, what would you suggest?” The employee must prioritize, and discussion is stimulated. If the question were, “What would you change?” and the employer doesn’t make the change, then the employee thinks that the organization doesn’t listen.
Doug Brown (@DougKBrown1): Since investing in engagement pays sound dividends and generates bottom line profits, a successful strategy is to develop leaders who understand the benefits of employee engagement and have the skills to inspire and motivate performance.
Stephen Baird, Esq. (@DuetsBlog and @WinthropMPLS): Lead by example.
Michelle Braden (@CoachingLeaders): Here are my three tips: 1) Engaged employees begin with authentic and engaged leaders; 2) Engaged employees are ones that take ownership of their work, which means that the leader has to give the opportunity and create a culture of taking ownership; and 3) Engaged employees enjoy and have the talents in what they do, so leaders have to make sure they have the right people in the right places – using their strengths rather than trying to make people something they are not.
Erika Andersen (@erikaandersen), author and leadership expert, wrote about employee engagement in a recent post for Forbes. “If a company’s focus is ‘How can we give our customers what they want,’ then that company needs great employees. To come up with the ideas, to make the great products, to interact with the customers. Employees aren’t a begrudged necessity in that kind of company – they’re what makes it possible. And if my company feels like that about me, and treats me that way, then I’m most likely to feel that way about my company and treat my company that way. Voilà: engagement. AND productivity, reduced turnover, attracting top talent. AND delighted customers, great products and services, big profits.”
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For more inspiration on this topic, visit my Employee Engagement Board on Pinterest:
http://pinterest.com/debbielaskeymba/employee-engagement
Take the Employee Engagement Universal Driver Survey from Leigh Branham:
http://www.quantumworkplace.com/app/gw/employeeengagement
Read Erika Andersen’s post on Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2013/07/17/the-management-theory-that-explains-why-70-of-workers-are-disengaged
Image Credit: Thanks to Steve Curtin for the use of his image with this post. Read Steve’s Blog: http://www.stevecurtin.com/blog
This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.
These days, it seems as if everyone is talking about customer data. There’s big data, business intelligence, and mobile data. But with all of these sprouting warehouses of data, how much time do businesses spend to gather, share, and understand their customer data?
What exactly is big data? According to Forrester Research, “Big Data is the frontier of a company’s ability to store, process and access (SPA) all the data it needs to operate effectively, make decisions, reduce risks, and serve customers.”
In plain English, “Big data is not about the size of the data, it’s about the value within the data,” as described by Dave Wellman (@dwellman on Twitter).
In the B2B arena, most businesses use large-scale software systems, such as, SalesForce or customized CRM systems, to capture leads and maintain customer details. Several departments are involved in the data-gathering process because there are multiple customer touch points: contact centers and customer service, sales, and marketing departments. As a result, many departments are responsible for entering and updating customer records.
But how many businesses actually maintain organized procedures for storing and accessing data? How often are the records updated? How often are the records purged if a customer goes out of business? What are the basics when it comes to entering names, addresses, and common business abbreviations or terms including Inc., LLC, etc.? Bottom line, how many businesses discuss how to enter information into their customer databases as part of new employee onboarding?
While customer data is critical for business success, no leadership team should endorse “spying” on its marketing department when it comes to obtaining, storing, and understanding customer insights. This data should be easily accessible to all members of a leadership team, and it should be easily digestible by all – whether one is a member of the finance team, the personnel team, or the manufacturing team. The data should be frequently shared by a member of the sales or marketing team – and even better, by members of both specialty areas – to the entire leadership team.
When this happens, everyone can learn which products or services yield the most sales and the least sales, which result in the most problems and how the problems were handled, and where attention should be paid to make improvements.
This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.
Image Credit: Thanks to IBM for providing the image that served as inspiration for this post.
