Quality Service Marketing

How Marketers Sabotage Themselves

I recently spoke to a group of marketers about our need to internally market the marketing function. Before we can begin to develop brand ambassadors or marketing champions, we need to engage ALL employees in what marketing does since each employee impacts delivery of the brand promise. 

To better engage employees with our marketing programs, it’s important to understand how we inadvertently sabotage our own marketing efforts.

• We fail to recognize that marketing is perceived as creating extra work for employees. I learned this lesson earlier in my career as a bank marketer. Whenever the Marketing Department would launch a new deposit promotion – offering gifts to customers for opening new accounts – most branch people were less than receptive. On top of their regular duties of meeting daily operational standards for efficient transaction processing, business development & sales goals, customer service standards and customer retention goals,  we expected the tellers, customer service reps and branch managers to display, process, distribute and control inventory of whatever premiums that marketing had sent their way (stadium blankets, golf umbrellas, toaster ovens, VCRs, etc.). No wonder they wanted to bar the doors whenever they saw Marketing coming! 
  
  
• Just because the Marketing Department is part of the organizational chart doesn’t mean that employees know who we are and what we do. We forget that we need to continually educate others within the organization as to what Marketing really does … other than sitting around having a good time creating work for everyone else.

Our challenge is how do we engage employees who deliver on the brand when they have no clue as to what we really do and we have little/no authority over them?

As marketers we know how to develop and strengthen customer relationships; it’s not a stretch to apply this skill set to develop and strengthen employee relationships. But we’re so busy taking care of everyone else’s marketing needs that we neglect our own.

In what other ways does marketing sabotage itself? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experience on this topic.

Starting a Marketing Department from Scratch

“Great news!” said the young woman who called me after attending one of my marketing workshops. With a background in graphic design, she was responsible for advertising, special events, and employee communications for a group of physicians in a multi-specialty medical practice. “My boss agreed to start a formal marketing function, and he wants me to head it up,” she explained. “Help!”

Where to begin

I shared her excitement, enthusiasm, and even a bit of panic. “First, take a deep breath,” I advised her. “Now, tell me about your company’s most pressing marketing needs.” We discussed these to start to prioritize them and get a realistic perspective of what could be achieved given her status as a one-person marketing department.

Beyond Marketing 101

Since there are plenty of books available on how-to-do marketing and how-to-write-a-marketing-plan, her concern was really how to be effective in developing a formal marketing function that would be accepted and respected within the group practice. My advice centered on four areas.

• Focus. Prepare to discuss the practice’s critical marketing needs with key internal stakeholders – in this case, physicians and administrators. Then get their agreement on selecting no more than three priorities that will receive most of marketing’s attention.
• Build Relationships. Cultivate and nurture relationships with marketing-related providers – printers, media reps, research suppliers, promotional sales reps, web designers, direct mail firms, etc. At the same time, develop and maintain relationships with marketing partners inside the practice. Educate and communicate with physicians, nursing staff, and administrators so they know and understand what marketing is doing and why (i.e., explain the rationale and goals of marketing’s strategy), including how individually and collectively they impact the brand based on their interactions with patients, families, hospitals, and the community-at-large.
• Manage Expectations Carefully. Once people within the practice know about the marketing department, everyone will have a laundry list of things they want marketing to do for them. So it’s important to manage organizational expectations of marketing – its goals, capabilities, limited resources, deadlines, etc. – upward (among management) as well as laterally (between and within the practice specialties). Stay focused on marketing’s top priorities [see Focus above] to keep from being overwhelmed with marketing requests.
• Make Time for Professional Development. It’s not easy to do it all as a one-person marketing department. Which is why it’s even more important to continue learning how to be a better marketer. Some of this knowledge can be gained by investing in formal development – taking classes, webinars, reading, etc. And some of it can be obtained via networking with other professionals in the field. Try to learn how they manage their marketing functions and how they handle marketing challenges, including being creative with limited resources. This networking can be invaluable for sharing ideas and coping strategies with other marketers and using them as sounding-boards. Whether over the phone, over a meal, over coffee or a more potent beverage, it’s also helpful to know that others have survived similar challenges.

Special Note: This advice is applicable to other organizations. Identify the internal and external stakeholders who are important to your organization and insert them to replace the physicians, administrators and other segments mentioned above.

The Ten Foot Rule of Customer Service (or Avoidance?)

As a business professional specializing in employee-customer care, I know many companies tout the “Ten Foot Rule” of Customer Service – whenever employees come with ten feet of a customer, they’re supposed to stop what they’re doing and give their full attention to that customer.

As a consumer, I also know that many employees have their own version of this rule – they try to steer clear of coming within ten feet of a customer. And if they do get close, they avoid eye contact and turn in the other direction. Sadly, some employees also observe this practice with fellow employees who are their “internal” customers.

Forget the excuses for bad customer service. The bottom line is the ten foot rule and other prescribed practices won’t be effective when simply issued as top-down edicts. Organizations that want their employees to serve customers in this way need to provide the training, tools, and reinforcement (including measurement and reward) that enable and encourage effective customer service.

It’s something to think about. How do employees apply the ten foot rule in your organization: do they step up to serve customers or do they turn tail and hide?

Blog Anniversary & Interview with Toby Bloomberg

This post marks the beginning of my 8th year of blogging. To celebrate this milestone, I’m delighted to interview Toby Bloomberg, who inspired me to start this blog in 2005 and continues to be my inspiration in social media. Toby is a strategic social media consultant & trainer, author of Diva Marketing and Social Media Marketing GPS, and founder of All The Single Girlfriends. 

QSM: Let's start with how business blogging has evolved over the past eight years. What are the biggest changes you've seen during this time period?

Toby: One of the current challenges I’m seeing is that with the ease and ubiquity of social networks, people are concerned if blogs are still a valid initiative in terms of longevity of the tool. In other words, are blogs on their way out? No marketer wants to invest time in a tactic that will be here today and gone tomorrow.

With blogs the challenges that we faced when businesses first stepped into the blogosphere are still the challenges that many face today. Blogs and social media frequently impact the dynamics of an organization and its culture. We’ve learned that creating an internal structure that supports and integrates social media is not nice to have but critical. How that is developed depends on the enterprise, but the first step should be creating company-wide “bumper” guidelines. (These are guidelines for simplicity that help people to not fall over the edge when creating content or responding to comments.)

How to create and manage communications that are based on what I call “selfless content,” instead of marketing messaging, is often a new direction for traditional marketers. The challenge is how to tell the story of the brand - including the people who are the brand (employees and customers) - through relevant, value-added content.

QSM: With all the content competing for attention in social media space, does business blogging still make sense?

Toby: Here’s the marketer’s response: it depends. It depends on several factors, starting with can a blog support your business/marketing goals and objectives?

Social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and even LinkedIn have capitalized on our society’s short attention span. While “short” posts and updates are fast to write (and to read), blogs offer an opportunity to explore issues in more depth. There is no better way to establish, reinforce and sustain thought-leadership positioning.

Keep in mind that with social networks you don’t “own” the platform ... you’re a “renter” which means you must abide by the rules of the network. Although Facebook allows for branded pages, with the others following suit, you are still at the mercy of another company’s vision. If you own the blog software, however, you have full control of branding, content guidelines and how you’ll manage customer relationships.

QSM: Since this blog is about internal marketing & communications, please share your thoughts on how blogging, tweeting and other forms of social media have affected organizational communications and engagement.

Toby: As I mentioned before, blogs and social media are catalysts for internal organizational change. The new open communication among people in the enterprise demands that new cross-functional communication systems are established among departments and business units. The exciting result is that social media can be a great team builder.

Social media opens the door for all employees, not just those in marketing, to understand the brand values and promise at a “DNA” level. In order to make that happen takes commitment from management, training and continuous sharing of strategic direction. At the end of the day people know each other better, know the company better and go out into the social world with confidence as brand champions.

QSM: And who doesn’t want to foster brand champions these days? Thank you, Toby, for reinforcing the value of business blogging. As my blog & social media mentor, you get the first slice of my blog anniversary cake!      

 

 

Tribute to a Services Marketing Leader

This is a special post that pays public tribute to one of my mentors, Dr. Stephen W. Brown. Steve recently retired from Arizona State University as a well-respected marketing professor, researcher, and founder of the Center for Services Leadership in ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business.

Before I tell you how I met Steve, here’s a bit of background. Steve Brown is internationally known for his pioneering research and thought leadership in services marketing and management, service recovery, and building a service mindset in product-dominated companies. He is a founder of the Center for Services Leadership (CSL) which he helped grow to become one of the premier centers of research and education in services marketing and management. (I highly recommend CSL’s annual Compete Through Service Symposium and Services Leadership Institute. ) As a result of his research and leadership contributions to the field, Steve received numerous international and university-wide recognition, including honorary doctorates from Finland's HANKEN School of Economics and Sweden's Karlstad University.

Mentor, Advisor, and Sounding Board

I feel privileged to have learned so much from Steve even though I was never in one of his classrooms. I first met Steve in 1983 when he was President-Elect of the American Marketing Association. I was newly elected to the AMA Board of Directors and learned a lot from Steve’s leadership style. He laid out an inspiring vision for the marketing association based on the profession’s growth and its role in the emerging field of services marketing and customer satisfaction. Shortly before I took office as AMA Chair-Elect in 1996, I met with Steve to gain insight on leading the association.

My career path closely followed the growth of services marketing as a new field, and Steve was most generous in sharing his research and helping me learn about this new discipline. I also reached out to Steve for advice before I launched my business as a services marketing consultant (more than 20 years ago) and when I wrote my first book on internal marketing.

I am fortunate to have benefited from his guidance and friendship. And I am only one of many students and marketing professionals who have been helped by this man throughout his distinguished career. How lucky for us that in your new role as Emeritus Professor, you'll continue to be involved with the Center for Services Leadership.

Thank you, Dr. Stephen W. Brown, for giving so much of your time to teach, guide, and inspire. Best wishes in your well-deserved retirement!

"Small Message, Big Impact" - A Helpful Guide to the Elevator Speech

A major challenge for most business professionals is mastering the art of the elevator speech – a three minute (or less) introduction that tells people who you are, what you do, and why they should consider doing business with you. I’ve spent many years trying to craft the perfect elevator speech; for me it’s become an ongoing work-in-progress.

That’s why I was interested in Terri L. Sjodin’s new book Small Message, Big Impact that will be released in June 2011. [Disclosure: I received a free advance copy of this book for review.]

Of all the “how-to” books and blog posts I’ve read on this topic to date, Sjodin’s book is one of the most helpful. She describes different types of elevator speeches and the different ways you can use them. She then outlines a practical process to help people craft their own concise messages, including language mechanics such as “speech supports” and “rhetoric devices.” While Sjodin’s explains each step with examples and sample worksheets, it all came together for me at the end of the book where she illustrates the complete process. I also found value in the last chapter entitled “Nuggets of Advice and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions.”

So, have I perfected my elevator speech as a result of reading this book? Not quite yet … but I will get there using the insight and tools shared in Small Message, Big Impact.

Marketing's 4 P's: Then & Now

As I refreshed my training material in preparation for my next AMA Marketing Boot Camp, I got to thinking about the ways marketing has changed since I started teaching this program more than ten years ago.

Marketing's traditional “4 Ps” framework – Product (what you offer), Price (what you charge), Promotion (how you communicate it) and Place (where the customer obtains the product/service) – has changed significantly over the past 10+ years with the rapid growth of social media. Here are a few highlights of these changes.

Product
Then: consumers depended on product information primarily from the manufacturer. Satisfied and dissatisfied consumers shared their joy or frustration with traditional word-of-mouth – influencing dozens, maybe even hundreds of people in their local network.

Now: consumers rely on word-of-mouse to obtain product info and instantaneously share their experiences with millions of people in community-based and global networks.

Price
Then: comparison price shopping took serious time and effort.

Now: it’s much faster and easier to obtain pricing info with online research and mobile apps.

Place
Then: consumers enjoyed new-found convenience as shopping opportunities grew from bricks-and-mortar to clicks-and-mortar.

Now: consumers enjoy the any time/any place convenience of shopping and entertainment, including downloading music, movies, and books. They can also acquire knowledge via an infinite number of podcasts, webinars, and (my new favorite) TedTalks.

Promotion
Then: consumers were no longer passive recipients of promotional messages as they enjoyed skipping over commercials using technology offered by digital video recorders.

Now: some consumers are increasingly immune to marketing messages, although some enjoy participating in message development (“make-your-own-commercials”) and brand advocacy (fan pages).

Beyond CRM
Technology and social media have enabled customer relationship management (CRM) to evolve from “What more can we sell to consumers?” to “How can we more effectively engage them?” Hence, the new 5th P of marketing: Participation.

I welcome your thoughts on how marketing has changed in the past 10+ years.

"The Pursuit of Customer Insight"

[Note: I’m delighted to share this post from co-authors and consultants, Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson. Their latest book, Wired and Dangerous: How Your Customers Have Changed and What to Do About It, is being released this month.] 

 
The mayor of Santa Clarita, California annually holds a hairdresser’s luncheon. The goal of the special event is a focused one--to learn what citizens are really concerned about. The mayor knows citizens will tell their hairdressers what they would never report in a city-wide survey.

The general manager of a large midtown hotel held quarterly focus groups with the taxi drivers who frequented his hotel property waiting to transport departing guests to the airport. He knew the taxi drivers would get a more honest earful than the hotel front desk clerks could extract from their way too familiar “How was your stay?”

Organizations around the world make it a practice of seeking customer feedback. One major study estimated at least 95% of all companies engage in customer inquiry in some form. Armed with reams of surveys, focus group reports and suggestion box forms, the marketing department slices, dices and presents to leaders “what we know for sure about our customers.” Nods of confirmation from the tippy top of the organization tell the data presenters they have hit another home run--all is well on mahogany row. But, is information and understanding the best goal for this well-played game?

The enormous investment by organizations in gathering customer feedback is primarily to gain either confirming or corrective information. Data collection is to provide answers to two questions: how are we doing and, what do we need to fix. But, today’s customers are bored with business as usual. They show their allegiance to innovative companies---those with a passion for the inventive. And, traditional customer feedback and evaluation will not effectively inform innovation.

What Did You Really Find Out

We were consulting with a large construction company in the Northeast. They had asked us to help them better understand what drove loyalty among their business customers. The CEO was unexpectedly delayed and joined the results presentation after we were thirty minutes and twenty PowerPoint slides into our story. We were at a transition point and, as he took his seat, he asked a show stopping question: “What can you tell us that I do not already know or can figure out from your written report?”

At first we assumed he was being either cute or caustic. But, this was not our first rodeo with this client so we did what we learned to do in consultant school when confronted with an uncertain client situation--ask a question! We politely asked him: “What is behind your question?”

“I appreciate the thoroughness and thoughtfulness of your research work,” he continued, realizing he had sounded curter than he had intended. “I am looking for insight, not understanding. What were the surprises in your loyalty study? What are our customers communicating without saying? What is a big aha that we can translate into a competitive advantage…or, at least a deeper customer relationship?”

His barrage of questions was more rhetorical than accusatory--intended for everyone in the meeting room. And, the queries got us thinking. How do we push our pursuit of understanding to the point of insight? Does insight emanate from great rapport with the customer, smart questioning, or shrewd analysis? What if we completely rethought the “ask a question, get an answer” process of customer intelligence gathering? How can customer input help inform innovation? “Breakthroughs,” said Andy Grove, former Chairman of Intel, “Come from an instinctive judgment of what customers might want if they knew to think about it.”

We are in a new era of customer requirements. Today’s customers are not only picky and fickle, they are “all about me” vain. Their “have it your way” orientation means successful organizations will need to remain on the hunt for creative differentiation. Retooling the organization to effectively approach the marketplace with imagination requires rethinking the means and methods for gaining customer intelligence. Success will come only when the recipients of customer input are able to say as our construction company CEO would say: “We learned something that surprised us.”

--- Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson are customer loyalty consultants and the authors of several best-selling books. Their newest book is Wired and Dangerous: How Your Customers Have Changed and What to Do About It. They can be reached at www.wiredanddangerous.com.

What's in YOUR Office Library?

In the spirit of observing National Library Week (April 10-16, 2011), I want to thank libraries and librarians everywhere for their invaluable service in encouraging reading for enlightenment and enjoyment.

I love libraries – public, school, corporate, and private. Over the years my husband and I have created our own home library with a collection of books on art, management, business, food, investing, historical biographies, local history, religion, classic literature, and fiction. We’ve even kept a few of our favorite college textbooks.  

I also have my own business library that reflects my professional interests. My book shelves include books on:

• Marketing and branding, with emphasis on services marketing
• Employee engagement and HR/talent management
• Nonprofit marketing, management, and leadership
• Facilitation and training
• Writing reference and grammar guides (my favorite is J. I. Rodale’s classic, The Synonym Finder)
• Humor and creativity (mostly cartoon collections from the New Yorker  and the Far Side; Gordon MacKenzie’s Orbiting the Giant Hairball is another favorite)

What types of books do you keep in your office?

What's Involved in Delivering the Brand Promise?

• It’s an integrated process that bridges marketing, human resources, and operations …
• It’s helping employees understand your brand value, then engaging and enabling them to deliver the brand promise as a positive customer experience …
• It combines elements of internal marketing and internal branding to strengthen your brand and drive business results …

And you can learn about it in a special one day program: Internal Branding & Internal Marketing on February 24, 2011, in Atlanta GA, that I’m presenting with Debra Semans.

We designed this hands-on workshop to help you better understand these two approaches and how you can apply them to enhance your employee and customer brand experience.

Hope to see you there!