Over the last several weeks, I’ve become a big fan of the reality show Undercover Boss. The premise of the show is that each week a top executive will go undercover inside their own organization inf an effort to gain insights as to how things run outside of the executive suite. While each executive is gaining individual insights into their own organizations and customers, in every single episode the executive has had the follwing takeaways:
1) Company morale is affected not so much by how a policy is written but more importantly how it is enforced,
2) Some of their employees are deeply committed to their jobs and the organization in spite of facing great challenges at home,
3) Customers often times are loyal to the employees and that’s what keeps them returning to the brand.
Actually I could add a few more but I may save those for another day. The over arching lesson is that it is well worth the time to go inside the organization and to experience it the way those who are not on the executive staff experience it. In every instance, the executive has found the exercise to be invaluable and they have commented that they will be better equipped to run the company.
Last night I had dinner with a dear friend, who is a brilliant techie, and he shared an interesting story with me. He explained that at one point in his career when he moved to a new company, and the marketing team learned that in his previously role he had interfaced directly with customers, he became their new best friend. He commented that he was a little surprised that marketing consistently tapped him for perspective, rather than going out and getting the customer perspective directly.
As a marketer myself, who is passionate about creating irresistible environments, it was hard to hear my friend’s story. In my opinion, marketing cannot succeed without being in close touch to the customer, the employees who are on the front lines, and the market conditions. There are other factors that are important but in my mind without these three it’s next to impossible to be effective. Marketers should always be looking for ways to get closer to their market segments, customers and prospects. Social media provides some excellent tools to create listening stations and two way conversations. Some of my most successful campaigns and strategies have been borne out of direct contact with my market and through experiencing my brand through the eyes of the customer. There is no better way to be effective than to develop an ongoing honest dialog with your customers.
Have you taken the time to go undercover in your market? I mean really undercover, trying to take in the customer experience from the outside not the inside, I promise you it can be very different.
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