Dialog with Sybil Stershic

  

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Welcome to the May 2010 edition of The Marketing Dialog. This month’s guest marketing leader is Sybil Stershic, President of Quality Service Marketing (QSM). QSM helps companies develop employee- and customer-focused solutions for bottom line success. Sybil is the author of Taking Care of the People Who Matter Most: A Guide to Employee-Customer Care and the Quality Service Marketing blog. Click here to learn more about Sybil: Quality Service Marketing: About QSM

To thank our guests for their participation, Polaris will make a donation to the charity of their choice. Sybil has chosen the Global Facilitators Service Corps. “What impressed me about this all-volunteer organization is how they let communities-in-crisis know they’re not forgotten after the first responders leave. The Global Facilitator Service Corps provides materials and mentoring, as well as facilitative tools and techniques, to help communities help themselves. For example, one of their most requested workshops helps community professionals and volunteers understand how to facilitate and foster community resilience in the aftermath of a disaster or major change. Given the ongoing recovery from an increasing number of natural disasters, ranging from Hurricane Katrina to the recent earthquakes in Haiti and Brazil, the need for GFSC’s services continues to grow,” said Sybil.

We invite you to make a contribution of your own or to learn more about the Global Facilitators Service Corps by clicking this link: Global Facilitator Service Corps

TMD: Thanks for participating in this month’s Dialog, Sybil. You are a leader in the field of internal marketing, but that concept may not be familiar for TMD readers. Tell me, what is internal marketing?

Sybil: Very simply, it involves taking care of employees so they can take care of customers. Internal marketing recognizes employees as an organization’s “first audience” and uses a variety of communication, educational, and motivational tools to engage employees in serving customers and meeting business objectives. But don’t let the marketing label fool you, as you don’t need to be a marketer to apply internal marketing. It’s really a comprehensive approach that blends internal communications, human resources and management to ensure your organization provides the tools and reinforcement that employees need to take care of customers and deliver the brand promise.

TMD: OK. Is there any research that supports the need for or the benefit of Internal Marketing?

Sybil: There’s a solid body of research that validates a self-reinforcing relationship between employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, loyalty, and profitability. One notable example is The Service Profit Chain published in 1997. And there are more recent studies that continue to confirm employees’ positive impact on financial success.

Despite this evidence, I’m amazed at how companies try to focus on creating a positive customer experience without doing the same for their employees.

TMD: And as you noted in the Foreword to your book, Taking Care of the People Who Matter Most: A Guide to Employee-Customer Care: “Research shows that employees who have better relationships with their companies are more likely to:

- Stay with the company, thereby reducing the high cost of turnover.

- Recommend the company to other potential employees, also reducing search expense.

- Be more productive in their jobs, augmenting the organization’s return on its investment.

- Provide higher service levels, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty."

TMD: I’m sure we’ve all got horror stories to tell about customer experiences with employees who were disaffected, disillusioned and just downright nasty! Seems like it is the exception when you have a good experience. So how did you first become involved with Internal Marketing?

Sybil: Early in my career I became aware that employees’ impact on customers was an outcome of how employees themselves were treated. Think of it as customer relations mirroring employee relations – the way your employees feel is the way your customers will feel. And if your employees don’t feel valued, neither will your customers. So I began experimenting with how to apply marketing inside an organization to help employees better serve customers and each other (i.e., employees as “internal” customers). Over the years I’ve practiced internal marketing, I came to learn what works and what doesn’t in engaging employees. It sounds like a no-brainer, but sadly there are many companies who still refer to their employees using annual report rhetoric – “our most important asset” – without really treating them as such. I know many people who work in what they describe as a “toxic” workplace. They’re among the growing ranks of disengaged employees just waiting to jump ship once the economy improves.

TMD: “Toxic” is such a powerful word, but you can exactly see what it describes. No one should have to work in an environment that makes them sick.

TMD: In your last post, we learned a lot about the importance of Internal Marketing. Since there are many researchers in our audience, let’s talk about the kind of marketing research that can be helpful in internal marketing.

Sybil: Research enables a company to understand how much internal marketing is needed based on customer and employee feedback. I suggest starting with customer satisfaction research – what are your customers telling you about how well they think you’re taking care of them?

You also need to look at the results of any employee satisfaction and/or engagement research to understand how employees view your organization. Most employee surveys, if done at all, reside in Human Resources and may not be shared with Marketing. Keep in mind, however, you need more than feedback on employee benefits – you need to know:

• Do employees understand the organization’s goals and what is expected of them in achieving these goals?
• Do employees know who their customers are? … How customers use the company’s products & services? …What customers think of the company/brand?
• What employees think of company operations - do they have access to the information and tools they need to perform their jobs? … What works and what gets in the way of their ability to deliver on the brand? … What are their suggestions for improvement?

Many companies know far more about their customers than their employees. So for those companies initiating employee research, I recommend they look for research providers with experience in “linkage research” that integrates the results of employee surveys with customer surveys.

TMD: How has your thinking about marketing research evolved over your career?

Sybil: I did a short stint as a research analyst in bank marketing earlier in my career. While my chosen path didn’t stay in research, I know how important it is in providing critical insight and input to decision-making.

TMD: I didn’t realize you had been in marketing research! That is an opportunity that can really change the way you use information in your business decision-making. And I am sure marketing research has changed as well over your career.

Sybil: What has changed about research, and what I’m most concerned about, is what’s available on the internet. It’s easy to find studies published on the web, and that’s good news for people looking to support their ideas and for research firms to promote themselves. But some of the research that’s out there is frightening, especially when little information is provided on sample size or methodology. I question how much of it is really valid and reliable.

What hasn’t changed is the need to listen to customers and the marketplace, in addition to listening to employees and enterprise partners. This, I believe, will continue to be the value of marketing research.

TMD: Indeed, while Marketing Research is more accessible to businesses than ever before as a tool for managing their businesses, I agree completely that there is not enough respect for that tool and knowledge about how best to apply it.

TMD: Sybil, thank you so much! This is very valuable insight for our readers.

Let us know: Have you used marketing research to assist internal marketing efforts? How?

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