Little White Marketing Lie #2: Our Employees Set Us Apart

Little white lies are falsities we tell people (and sometimes tell ourselves) that we believe to be benign, harmless. But there are little white marketing lies we tell all the time that may be hurting our businesses:

Little white marketing lie #2: “Our employees set us apart.”

That – as they say – is a distinction without a difference. Why? Every business enjoys a unique employee culture because no two businesses have exactly the same make-up of people.

Your employees set you apart – so what? So does everyone else’s.

As referenced in Little White Marketing Lie #1: We Provide Exceptional Customer Service, if it’s true about everyone, it’s not a valid point of difference. And just as with the first lie, the real question is: what’s so special about your particular blend?

If you want to stand behind the claim that your employees set you apart, you need to be able to point to unique capabilities, characteristics, strengths or accomplishments in order to prove it. (And before you say, “our employees provide exceptional customer service,” please re-read the first little white marketing lie!)

If you can’t put your finger on anything specific—anything that your employees as a group 'do' that is different than the competition and outside of customer’s expectations, then this is not a valid unique selling proposition for your business.

That said, if you design and nurture it properly, your employee culture can set your business apart from the competition and your employees can provide truly exceptional customer experiences. Here’s how:

Ground all business policies and practices in core values with this disclaimer: the values must be authentic to you and shared (or at least supported) by all of the employees in your business.

Once you've identified (authentic) core values, build or re-write your policies around them. If the customer is your first priority, then the polices you have in place should reflect that and your operating practices should be those which promote the utmost in customer convenience, ease of access and satisfaction, from the first point of contact, to the last.

Re-write every job description (including your own). Every responsibility in every job description should tie back in some way to how the task (and every position) supports pursuit of the mission and vision in ways that are consistent with your core values.

Ensure that your recruiting and interview process, new hire orientation and training, and continuing training program for every employee includes (1) telling the story of your business, (2) reviewing the mission and vision of the company, and (3) discussing the company’s core values and how they impact every aspect of your operations.

Ask employees to agree (in writing) to uphold the promises your business makes to customers.

Encourage innovation and continuous improvement. Provide incentives for creative suggestions that help to improve the business. Give employees the opportunity to try something new, even (and maybe especially) if it is outside of the way you normally do business.

Blur the lines; don’t give employees the impression that because something is “not their job” that they don’t have the opportunity to provide suggestions, innovate, improve or even take on new responsibilities.

Make it safe for people to make suggestions or point out shortcomings. Discourage territorial behaviors. Reward initiative and recognize – nay, celebrate! – individuals who most embody your core values and seek to live out your mission and vision in their role.

Get employee buy-in when rolling out changes and new initiatives. Be sure every employee knows why changes are necessary or why new initiatives are desirable and the benefits that they can expect as a result (not just the benefits to the company—relate the issues in ways that employees understand how changes and initiatives ultimately benefit them: their ability to do their job, customer relations, improved efficiencies, etc.)

Report results. Periodically check in during long change processes and on-going initiatives to review progress and tweak things where needed. Get feedback from employees about whether the benefits you expected to materialize are doing so.

And finally (by the way, this is where you make or break it) hold people accountable.

Tie performance reviews and salaries to embodiment of core values and fulfillment of the mission and vision statement. Make sure every employee knows how their role impacts the customer experience and how they help to fulfill the mission and vision of the organization. Make it safe for employees to reveal any discrepancies between what you promise customers or your core values and what is occurring in your operations. Discuss problems as neutrally as possible – talk about behaviors, not personalities. Deal with identified problems quickly and deal with people who are missing the mark privately. Invest in training, retraining and coaching for individuals, but understand that some individuals may not be teachable or coach-able.

“Believe people when they show you who they are.”

You are responsible to your customers, to the good of all employees and to your business as a whole, before you are responsible to any one employee. Employer loyalty is misplaced when it is the cause for retention of an individual who is damaging your company from the inside-out, or even actively damaging your client relationships and initiatives.

It’s true—you do have a unique blend of employees. Your employee culture is a reflection of the unique and shared values, beliefs, attitudes, ideas, experiences, assumptions and of the actual behaviors of your staff. And—for better or for worse—this culture is reflected back to your clients in every area of your business and has more ability to influence the success and profitability of your business more than any other. You have the ability to turn your employee culture into something truly special—something that will be as special to your employees as it is to your customers and your business.


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Elizabeth Kraus – 12monthsofmarketing.com
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