Tip#16:
Want Staff Buy-In? Get Congruent.

When designing your next customer loyalty initiative, think long and hard about how to achieve staff buy-in. Without it, your loyalty plan will surely fail. Think "congruency": What gets communicated to employees on the inside must agree with what the company stands for on the outside.

Here's how my client from a large utility company (known for its customer service) experienced the power of congruency. As the VP of Marketing and Customer Service, he was leading the charge of transforming call center service reps into reps who were also responsible for selling. But the reps pushed-backed saying, "You're asking me to be a telemarketer. I don't want to be a telemarketer! That's not what I was hired for!"

My client quickly got it. In his zeal to leverage customer touch points, he had created a congruency problem. The call center reps were extremely proud of their ability to meet the needs of the customer through service. But, "selling" didn't fit. The solution? The VP reframed the initiative as "Enhanced Service." Call center reps were trained on how to do a better job satisfying customers by recognizing unmet needs and suggesting new services to address them. Results: 12 month revenue goals were achieved in nine short months. Loyalty Lesson: Think "congruency" when seeking staff buy-in. Your loyalty initiatives depend on it.

Related thread I made - How much do you focus on internal branding?

http://www.marketing-talk.com/showth...=3973#post3973