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Everyone is in Marketing

Guest post by: Bill Boyer

Article Overview: This is critical. Most of us are not aware of the impact all of our employees can have on the customer.

Everyone is in Marketing

Are you facing falling customer orders? Slower renewals? Cancellations? Demands for more price cutting? Much longer payment terms?

You have probably initiated all the cost reductions you can. And since you cannot or should not cut any further, you must leverage the creativity of your entire team. Get all your employees involved in marketing and selling. Employees who are motivated to contribute to the company's success can help retain customers and identify new ones.

Believe it or not, marketing is a war. The larger your army, the bigger your advantage. And to convert your workforce into your marketing army, all your people must professionally interact and communicate with your customers. Communication is your most effective weapon. Use it effectively and intelligently and you will win.

Here are some suggestions:

• Increase customer contact and communications. Unfortunately, in tough times we may take our customers for granted while we work on cost containment and keeping the investors and/or banks satisfied. In addition to that, all employees should be ambassadors to the customers: thanking them for their business, asking how they can help them do better, and finding out more about their business. If you customers feel that you care and really understand them, unexpected opportunities may arise.
• If you are dependent on only a few customers, diligently seek additional uses for your products and look for simple modifications in your offerings that could yield more customers. Look at less familiar industries or different geographic markets. When you find these, make more sales calls and test some of these new ideas. While you should send people to trade shows and industry conferences that relate to your business, send some of your staff to other shows and conferences that are tangential to your business. Especially if business is slow, this is a good use of people whom you want to keep in your organization. If the cost of this is prohibitive, then get them to do phone or internet research.
• Work on keeping morale high. When morale drops, people find ways to stay out of work, their attention to customers decreases, and often the quality of their work declines. Be honest with your employees about the situation: by doing so, you let your employees know how important they are to your long term success. Let them know how much you appreciate their dedication to the company. Consider giving small tokens of appreciation: provide a company lunch, or a picnic with families, or make other gestures of appreciation.
• Reward the staff when there are small or large wins. Ask your employees for suggestions: they often know more than you do about the operation. The lower level employees often feel that they do not have much to offer or that their ideas are too small. If a cost reduction is successful, especially if it comes from the employees, give them some reward and more importantly recognition. Try to develop some formal program to encourage suggestions from the employees - and then use some of the suggestions!
• Be sure all your employees understand the importance of helping your customers and showing them respect and courtesy. Each polite and professional answer to a phone call is very important. Professional delivery people are also important.
• Probably most important of all, stick to your principals. Don't reduce quality or cut corners. Don't give gifts to the buyers if you never have before. Don't "cook the books" to keep bankers/investors happy. Your adherence to your company values can solidify and increase the confidence that customers have in you. Also, your employees will be proud to be associated with a company that treats all people fairly and honestly.

A true story:

In one of the companies I helped turn around, our delivery person was very personable and professional. We always had him dress very neatly in a company uniform and keep the vehicle very clean. He developed very good relationships with many of our customers' employees. It was amazing how much information he found out about our competition from these people. He looked at the other items delivered by our competitors and often came back to us with suggestions for additional products we could sell. He even promoted our products to these companies during the delivery. He brought us a great deal of additional business.

Remember that changing and difficult times separate the winners from the losers. A company that delivers high quality products/services from engaged employees who know and care about their customers usually wins the war.

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Article Tags: Customers, employees, growth, new sales, obtaining customers



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