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7 Online Copyright Myths
Possunt quia posse videntur.
(Latin: They can because they think they can.)
One of the most misunderstood issues online has to do with copyright. Both with e-mail and Web site copyright issues. For some reason, as with many things online,...
Customer Retention with a Personal Touch
Personal contact with customers is a crucial element in the success of any new business – and it’s one of the most common casualties of growth. As a company grows, the president tends to fade away into his or her office. That can lead to loss of...
How To Fire A Customer
Reprint Guidelines: ** Attention Ezine editors / Site owners ** Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your ezine or on your site so long as you leave all links in place, do not modify the content and include my resource box as listed...
How to save money by spending wisely
Why is it that the older and richer people become, the more conservative they are with their money? Have you ever done or know someone who has made an investment that promised a 10% interest or profit per month? Everyone wants to make above average...
What To Ask Before You Hire Security Services For Your Business
Publishing Guidelines: You are welcome to publish this article in its entirety, electronically, or in print, free of charge, as long as you include my full signature file for Ezine’s. Please send a courtesy link or email where you publish to...
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Retaining Employees and Customers Is A Family Affair
“The more things change, the more things remain the same.”
As e-mail, voice mail, and technology allow people to conduct business without ever seeing each other, the competitive edge can very well be the re-creation of conversation -- specifically conversation that allows people to feel a “family” connection. It’s a connection that recalls the fact that commerce was traditionally an intimate affair.
My great-grandfather started a shoe store, the first account Florsheim shoes ever had. Farmers would hook up their horses and trot into York, PA. By learning about the customers from his father, my grandfather knew their type of farm, their family members, what kind of shoes they needed. In short, business knew its customers and customers TRUSTED that a product or service would be delivered “as promised”. Reineberg’s Shoe Store was known for “fitting feet” not just selling shoes. Business was conducted on a family-like connection.
The same was true of employees. Employees TRUSTED that the company would listen to them as if they were members of an extended family. Employees knew that my grandfather would value their individuality, understand that personal and business life were connected, and pay a fair wage for a day’s work. He also never asked more of others than he asked of himself.
Times have changed. But it’s not too late to develop family “trust”. However it’s not easy.
Customers abandon companies they do not trust and so do employees. Trust develops over time and can be dashed in an instant. But improving organizational trust is more difficult and subtler than installing new software. Research conducted by Leonard Berry, author of Discovering the Soul of Service, and professor at Texas A&M concluded that successful companies tend to act like extended families. They display these “family traits” in five ways:
Family Gatherings: These are events designed to share, console, help, celebrate and communicate. Enterprise Rent-a-Car and Midwest Express Airlines routinely hold all-hands meetings to answer employee questions, give awards, and keep everyone up to date. It’s rather like the long forgotten family councils, the circle of the tribal elders. Information is freely given and encouraged. Sessions like “Stump the CEO” are held with prizes given to employees
who ask the most difficult questions. One advertising agency holds “HELP!” sessions that can be called whenever a team member needs advice and ideas. The stand-up-and-talk gathering is spur-of-the-moment, brings all hands around, and is over in less than 15 minutes. And the family member who asked for HELP! walks away with new ideas and insights.
Family Familiarity: Leaders are accessible, approachable, and caring. First name-basis becomes the order of the day. Amazon.com mirrors this on their web site that literally calls a customer by name and outlines suggested purchases based upon the customer’s buying history. How might you move beyond a web connection to create a higher form of conversation?
Family Honor: Management trusts employees. Time clocks are rare; remote work common. At Miller SQA, a division of Herman Miller, factory employees keep their own hours on the honor system. At AES, a utility organization, cross-training is so prevalent that employees trust each other to perform a task when called upon.
Family Fairness: Pay for performance, evenhandedness, promotions from within and merit-based rewards. An example is Custom Research. This company won a Malcolm Baldridge Award. Only 50 employees could attend a celebration in Florida. The organization—from the president down to the clerical—drew names to see who could attend.
Family Fun: Humor is the shortest distance between people. Families play together. At SW Airlines, they have ice cream parties on the spur of the moment. Malaysian Airlines offers dance and music concerts staffed by employees’ talent. The options are endless. Customers are also included in “the fun”.
The trust test is passed or failed on a daily basis. Retaining employees and customers are more likely if retention becomes a family affair.
© 2000 by Eileen McDargh. All rights reserved. Reprints must include byline, contact information and copyright.
About the Author
Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE, is an international speaker, author and seminar leader. Her book ‘Work for A Living and Still Be Free to Live’ is also the title of one of her most popular and upbeat programs on Work/Life Balance. For more information on Eileen and her presentations, please call 949-496-8640 or visit her web site at http://www.eileenmcdargh.com.
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