Expert interview with Shaun Smith
One of the World’s Leading Experts on Branding and Customer Experience
Posted on January 31, 2008 - Filed Under CSA - Celebrity Speakers, Expert Interviews | Leave a Comment
1. How could the top management of a company inspire and motivate its employees in order to deliver the company’s brand? Could you give us some examples on this regard?
The key to this is a concept that I call ‘loose/tight’. Most organisations exercise a very tight control over what employees should do but a very loose control over why they should do it. In other words they have strict procedures and regulations that employees must abide by even when these do not make sense for the customer.
I believe that organisations should reverse this and be very tight in communicating to employees who the target customers are, what they value, what the brand promise is and the kind of experience that they wish customers to have but then to be somewhat looser about how to deliver this so that employees can use their judgement.
One of the most successful fast food brands in the UK is called Pret a Manger. They employ students from all over Europe to work in their sandwich shops for a season. Whilst they have high employee turnover they also have a fabulous reputation for service. They achieve this by having a very clear brand promise; ‘Passionate About Food’, employing staff for their personality and fit with the culture – I call this hiring for ‘DNA’ – training them well in the technical aspects of the job but then empowering them to deliver the brand. For example, staff are taught to say something as the customer approaches, “say something when you serve them and say something when you bid them goodbye“. It is left up to the good sense of the employee about what to say.
2. In order to attract good employees, do you really need to market your company to prospective employees like one markets its products?
Absolutely. The problem is that most recruitment is done by HR people who don’t understand how to use branding or marketing to differentiate in the employment market place. I think recruitment ads should be given to your marketing department or ad agency to design.
Some years ago I was working with the fashion retailer Topshop who are famous for their brand and strong marketing. They were experiencing high turnover of employees and were having problems in attracting new ones. When we looked at their recruitment ads we found them to be boring so they simply got lost in the mass of advertisements in the job market. The experience they created for employees was just the same as any other retailer despite the brand being one of the most exciting fashion retailers in the world.
We suggested that Topshop use a branded approach to recruitment and focus a lot more on their employee experience. The result was better quality people with a better fit for the culture who stay much longer and give much better service as well because they understand what the brand stands for and want to be part of it.
end of part 1 of this interview
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