First Step Marketing

While press attention has focused on the achievements (and, more recently, the struggles) of Internet entrepreneurs in dotcom companies, comparatively little mention has been made of the increasing numbers of service workers who make up the bulk of the demand for labour in new technology industries. Leibovich, in an article appropriately entitled ‘Service workers without a smile’, provides an interesting account of employment conditions at Amazon, world famous for its ground-breaking policies of online customer relationship-building. He notes how staff are pressured to work as quickly as possible in order to achieve customer satisfaction targets, particularly those who earn low wages packing books at the firm’s distribution centres or answering emails from customers, and goes on to observe the irony of the Amazon geography: ‘Customer service employees work in a patchwork of cubicles scattered over three downtown Seattle buildings. The quarters have an old industrial feel, with gritty exteriors that belie the company’s sleek online identity’ (1999: 3). Many other ‘new economy’ employees work in call centres that have been dubbed ‘the new sweatshops’ because of pressure to work as quickly as possible under electronic surveillance that monitors, for example, the number of customer emails responded to per hour. In these service-intensive organizations, the power is in the hands of lower-level, front-line employees, upon whose handling of customer services managers must depend for the achievement of organizational objectives. As Piercy notes, ‘Too many employees who deal directly with customers are damaging the product, service or corporate brand every time they open their mouths’ (2000: 187). This means that intend marketing needs to play a critical role in ensuring that staff are well informed and motivated if a quality service is to be provided to customers. However, this is frequently not the case. For example, the technique of ‘mystery shopping, in which researchers anonymously check out the quality of service provided by staff, may well be feared and resented. Dissatisfied or demotivated staff can try to sabotage enforced customer service policies in subtle ways, for example by wearing their name badges upside down. One major UK DIY retailer implemented a customer care programme that required shop-floor staff to be much more proactive in serving customers and suggesting suitable products. It failed because management failed to note the limited extent of employee commitment and willingness to accept the extra pressures associated with such responsibility. Instead of feeling empowered and motivated by the ‘upgrading’ of their jobs, many staff resented the interference and preferred the security and predictability of sitting at the till all day.

The principles of internal marketing can also be extended to prospective employees with the notion of employer branding, in recognition that employees are a significant source of competitive advantage in a marketplace where products and services are easily copied. Employer branding involves treating both staff and potential staff as internal customers. The aim is to acquire a reputation as a ‘good firm to work for’, thereby attracting and retaining the brightest and most dedicated employees, enabling the firm to stand out from its competitors. ‘Forward looking companies are working on the assumption that they have to do a continuous selling job on the employee’ (Grimes 2000: 13). In an age where people expect to work for a number of firms (or indeed for themselves) during the course of their career, retaining key staff is becoming more and more difficult. Some firms are experimenting with a number of benefits in order to be seen as a ‘good employer’; for example:

• paternity leave;
• extended unpaid leave of absence;
• flexible work arrangements (e.g. working from home or ‘child-friendly’ hours);
• job sharing;
• empowerment of staff;
• open communications through simplified management hierarchies.

It is often suggested that relationships with both staff and customers can be enhanced through induction programmes, training courses, benefits, the use of intranets or through working in cross-functional teams. However, while all these t useful, things are rarely that simple. Too often, customer care programmes e instigated as a ‘quick fix’, without making any changes in entrenched management behaviour, or without attempting to evaluate the success of the programme implemented.

Payne regards a supportive organizational culture as a key ingredient in the success of internal marketing:

Internal marketing involves creating, developing and maintaining an organizational service culture that will lead to the right service personnel performing the service in the right way. It tells employees how to respond to new, unforeseen and even awkward situations. Service culture has a vital impact on ho service-oriented employees act and thus how well they perform their tasks `part-time marketers’.

Payne goes on to note that management needs to be customer orientated in o d to lead by example and instil a market-focused attitude lower down the orgzational hierarchy. This may require significant organizational change.

In what may be regarded as the ultimate integration of internal market and customer relationship marketing, Ulrich (1989) advises giving customers major role in staff recruitment, promotion and development, and appraisal and reward systems. While this policy may be too radical for many organizations, it can be seen from this discussion that a suitable internal climate is a necessary first step in the development of a customer orientation. This is rarely a simple task for an established organization that has become used to operating in a particular way.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Managing Stakeholder Relationship Part 2

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 8:59 pm and is filed under Business Management, Career Management, Customer Service, Jobs, Promotion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.