BCA

How your employees can make or break a brand relationship

By William J . McEwen

In today’s volatile economic environment, companies are understandably worried about their customers. Will they stay or will they leave? After all, customers have options, and they certainly know it. Competitive overtures, often trumpeting lower prices and intriguing promotional offers, have intensified. The Internet beckons, with its impressive array of available alternatives. And so, as many company CEOs have attested, it appears that today’s customer is indeed king.

But in focusing on maintaining the continuing patronage of their customers, too many companies appear to be ignoring their potentially most powerful marketing weapon. In their attempts to build stronger customer relationships, many companies emphasize managing the traditional “four Ps” of marketing — Product, Price, Place and Promotion — while appearing to overlook an essential fifth P: People. Admittedly, most organizations that have employees who touch customers will at least give lip service to the critical importance of their human resources.

Empty promises

Their websites proudly proclaim “our people are our most important product”; “our people make the difference.” But these can be empty promises, representing nothing more than meaningless puffery. Corporate mantras don’t always translate to where it really matters: the “moment of truth” when the customer actually comes in contact with the employee who has been challenged to “live” the company’s brand promise.

For the complete story, go to:  www.gallup.com ,  Gallup Management Journal.

Special from Gallup Management Journal

Keeping people productive and hopeful in tough times isn’t as complex — or as costly — as you might think

As economic conditions worsened during 2008, U.S. workers’ confidence in their economic futures declined, according to Gallup. In January 2008, 60% of employees felt that their standard of living was improving. By October, when the extent of the financial meltdown was becoming clear, that figure had dropped to 39%; in October and November 2008, employed Americans were more likely to say their standard of living was getting worse than to say it was getting better.

However, American workers’ optimism partially recovered between November 2008 and May 2009 before stabilizing. Since last May, about half of employed Americans have consistently said that their standard of living is improving, while about one-third have said it is getting worse.

These trends have been remarkably consistent across different job categories, reflecting the breadth of the economic downturn. It’s been called an “equal opportunity” recession in the sense that it affected the perceptions of all types of workers — including service workers, manufacturing workers, managers, and professional workers.

Refer to www.gallup.com for complete story.