Category: Business Culture

Pick Up The Phone And Smile: An Unusually Satisfying Business Experience.

12/2/2014

Had occasion today to call a hotel in Orlando. Suzan answered the phone, and she sounded so enthusiastic that it immediately made me feel that she – and everybody else at the Grand Bohemian -- was delighted that I’d called. Not just glad ... delighted! What a rare experience these days when so many businesses care only enough to plug you into their endless, impersonal and oh-so-frustrating automated answering systems. Either that or the person who answers the phone gives you the impression they’d rather finish filing their nails than talk to you.

"Good afternoon, and thank you for calling the Gran Bohemian Hotel -- this is Suzan at your service." The way it should be done.

Suzan passed me along to Marion, who was equally enthusiastic. She, in turn, connected me to the secretary of the gentleman who owns the hotel – just like that. Impressive, especially after having tried to contact business execs whose phone setups clearly suggest that they don’t want to be found.

I had not been aware of Richard Kessler and his 10 themed hotels, elegantly branded as The Kessler Collection. But I will long recall the exemplary welcome I received on the other end of his phone. He clearly recognizes the value of investing in the people it takes to enliven his properties, known for their “distinctive architecture, rare art and music, and exemplary service,” which I have no doubt runs like a golden thread through the entire business.

The Kessler experience reminded me of a hotel stay in Columbia, S.C. going on a month ago: the Clarion on Gervais Street. To tell the truth, we almost turned around and went somewhere else when we saw the property. The entrance was temporary and rather uninviting. A worn carpet led the way to the front desk. The place was under renovation, and management clearly had decided to do what business it could while one part of the facility was being torn down.

But the front desk folks welcomed us warmly, made good noises about our grandchildren (who were exploring every corner of the lobby as only a trio of curious toddlers can do) and explained the situation. The elevator was wobbly and the hallway carpets were grungy. The door to our room opened reluctantly and banged angrily against its metal frame. It was late and we were tired, so we decided to stay and ask for a discount at checkout time. However, by then the hotel staff had completely won us over – from several shifts of front desk people to the woman who cleaned our room.

Despite the less-than-perfect accommodations, we left smiling. There was no need for a discount. Plus, the kids found it fascinating to look out the window of our rooms in the morning as a power shovel demolished the building across the way.

The two very different hotels shared a common characteristic: a great experience, thanks not only to good people but also to management with the wisdom to hire, train and keep them.

TakeAway: Good people with great attitudes can make a huge customer experience difference – and create loyal brand advocates.

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner
Tags: Grand Bohemian Hotel, Orlando, The Kessler Collection, Clarion

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If You Want a Great Job, Interview companies With Good VIBES.

11/17/2014

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Image © by Brian E. Faulkner

Have you ever noticed how some businesses just wrap themselves around you and make you feel welcome, whether you’re a customer or a new graduate looking for a job?

I have found after many years consulting to businesses of all sizes (about communicating their culture and competitive advantage) that you can walk onto a sale floor, into a company headquarters or manufacturing plant and know immediately which organizations “click” and which do not. The businesses that connect have good vibes. There’s positive energy. Their leadership is genuine, sometimes even inspired. The people are real. They’re not just plodding along toward quitting time. They’re into what they’re doing -- and believe in it. The organization shares a clear purpose and vision that are not just words on some poster hung in the break room.

My son-in-law works for REI, a national retailer of recreational equipment, clothing, footwear and other attractive, well-chosen merchandise targeted to the outdoorsy crowd. He is enthusiastic about the company, which is organized as a consumer cooperative in which members get a dividend check every year for around 10% of a generous array of eligible merchandise purchased during that year, after paying a one-time $20 membership fee (you don’t have to join to shop there). The more members buy at REI, the better the deal – it’s built-in. REI also offers its members occasional deals that seem unusually attractive, in addition to store-wide sales that really are sales and not just come-ons.

The point here is that REI has both a purpose (to make the outdoor life available to more people at a good price) and values (which seem to be that people matter and the environment matters). The company uses words like approachable, collaborative, casual and playful to describe the work experience. Everybody with more than 20 hours a week gets health care. My son-in-law (who’s in retail management in an Atlanta-area REI store) says that the people who ultimately “stick” with the company buy into the REI experience (not to mention their generous performance incentives and retirement plan). They may have come in just looking for a job but end up finding a passion for work that knits comfortably into the fabric of their lives and helps assure a secure future for them and their families.

The point here is not to suggest going to work at REI, although this perennial placeholder toward the top of Fortune magazine’s Top 100 Best Companies to Work For would be a great choice. You may find something just as rewarding in some other retail setting, in a small manufacturing plant or even a big company. I have seen what, just for this article, might be called the “REI Effect” in all kinds of workplaces where business leadership and employees are in-synch and often unusually productive. They know what their purpose is, how their customers benefit, where they are going, and “what’s-in-it-for-me”, which could be just as true for a non-profit -- such as a school – as for a commercial enterprise.

So, if your goal is to find a work experience like the one exemplified by REI, try “getting a job” using a more differentiated strategy. Check the place out if it’s a retail store. Watch how the “team” works. Ask challenging questions about the merchandise and see if they rise to the occasion – even if it’s almost closing time.   Ask people how they like working there.   If you want to work for ABC Corporation or XYZ Manufacturing but can’t get immediate access, vigorously research them online. Talk to people who already work there; figure out where they go for lunch or to chat after work. Then request an interview with a company manager you’ve targeted (by name) before you even apply for the job. If HR gives you the stiff-arm, try calling the person directly and leave a message that inspires them to call you back. Let them know that you're interviewing them (and others). Talk to that manager about opportunities at the company, get other inside introductions and take a tour. If you want a sales position, ferret out some of the company’s customers and talk to them. This approach should pay off, whether you’re just out of school looking for your first position or a work veteran who has been “right-sized” out of a job (maybe especially so if you’re that person because you can more readily perceive what you want to see and don’t want to see).

It’s also instructive to remember that the world does not owe you a job.   But you do owe yourself a good job. You are no mere commodity, and you’re not seeking commodity-like work. You have value, knowledge, experience and intelligence to add to the employer’s collective purpose -- and to their customers’ satisfaction. And you have every right to enjoy your work.

Look for that “REI Effect”, perhaps in one of the other 99 companies on Fortune’s Top 100 list.   And don’t be satisfied with less. Because you’re worth it.

TakeAway: A job infused with passion and purpose pays big dividends. Use a differentiated job search strategy to find one.

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

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The Customer is Culture at this Successful Company.

11/10/2014

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Bob Tiffin gets up every morning a happy man. After early meetings with his management team, the genial founder and CEO of Tiffin Motorhomes takes to his office, phone to ear, eager to speak with his customers.

He knows he’ll get the calls, first because he invites them. And second, because motorhomes are complex products and they need service from time to time. An array of different systems must work as one to keep 30-48 thousand pounds of vehicle, 100-150 gallons of diesel fuel, 90 gallons of fresh water, 100+ gallons of waste water, plus cabinets, furniture and personal belongings (not to mention driver and passengers) rolling down the road.

“A motorhome, first of all, is a home,” Tiffin points out. “It has everything a home has, but on wheels. It also has hydraulics and a diesel engine – like a backhoe.” Not to mention the finest TV and electronics packages available. Plus a fine kitchen, an air conditioning system and two electrical systems, including a generator. And it all has to operate properly at sea level or at 11-thousand feet and accommodate a variety of climate and road conditions. From chassis to engine to handcrafted cabinetry to exceptional fit and finish, the company’s quality standard is high, whether an owner vacation travels or lives full time in their motorhome.

“Our customer sets the standard,” says Tiffin. “The customer is the culture of our company. We think about them when we design our products. We think of them every minute of every day and do everything we can to help them. We have 200 employees in our service department. Fourteen techs each take 30-40 calls a day. And CoachNet takes the calls after hours and on weekends.” (CoachNet is a leading provider of 24/7 technical and emergency roadside assistance for motorized and towable RVs with a network of more than 40,000 service providers throughout the U.S. and Canada.)

“My three sons work with me in the business, and we meet every day with our engineers to go over each problem we got a call about the day before,” notes Tiffin. Many of the fixes to those problems find their way into the company’s six Class A motorhome lines, which range from Allegro Breeze, the smallest rear engine diesel coach on the market, to the lavish Zephyr, “45 feet of sumptuous grandeur loaded with more features than we’ve ever put into a motorhome,” including a residential style fridge, two bathrooms and a stacked washer / dryer combo.

Image © by Brian E. Faulkner

http://tiffinmotorhomes.com/

Image © by Brian E. Faulkner

Bob Tiffin’s customer service passion is rooted in values instilled in him by his father, Alex Tiffin, whom Bob watched do business in the family lumberyard and general store in rural northwest Alabama from the time he was a little boy:

Build it well. Make it better. Back it with good service. Treat customers the way they would want to be treated. And always answer the phone.

These days, if Bob Tiffin isn’t in his office taking with a customer on the telephone, he’s more than likely talking to a customer in-person, at the Tiffin plant in Red Bay or on the road somewhere.

“If you can’t look your customers in the eye, you can’t do business with them,” Tiffin believes, a maxim that goes back to the Tiffin Supply Company days and has stuck with them since the family acquired and developed a motorhome manufacturing business after one of their customers went bust forty-odd years ago.

The product may be more sophisticated these days, but Tiffin’s attention to the basics remains the same – in fact, it’s at the nexus of quality and service that Tiffin Motorhomes really shines. The company is known not only for meticulous attention to design and manufacturing but also for Bob Tiffin and his legendary customer service, all of which combine to set Tiffin apart in a business where the competition isn’t shy about contending for market share.

“There used to be something like 100 motorhome manufacturers,” Tiffin says. We’ve survived four major economic meltdowns since we started in business, and now there are only 6-7 manufacturers left.” Which says a lot about his company’s products and the people who build and service them.

Just ask a Tiffin owner.

“Our customers talk about us around the campfire,” he points out. “We want them to say that we try our best to help if there’s a problem. We don’t sugarcoat the fact that motorhomes can be challenging. If there’s an issue, we ask our customers to call us, contact one of our 85 dealers, or drive to the factory. Ninety-nine percent of the time, we’ll fix whatever needs to be fixed. Because it’s our name that’s on their motorhomes.”

Bob Tiffin gets it. He gets it that the promise of quality begins on day one of the manufacturing process, continues through sale and delivery (by a limited number of carefully chosen Tiffin dealers) and extends through the entire ownership experience. His team gets it too, understands that integrity is the foundation stone on which their current and future business success rests. The promise Bob makes to Tiffin owners, the promises his sons make, and the promise that every associate in the Tiffin family makes is part of each motorhome that heads up the road from Red Bay.

“Customers invest from $100,000 to more than $500,000 in their motorhomes,” the founder says. “Sometimes that’s their whole life’s savings. And keeping them happy is our job” -- a Marketable Truth© deeply embedded in Tiffin’s long-time tagline:

“Where You Go, We Go!”

TakeAway: Live your integrity. A reputation for excellence will follow, and your customers will brag on you.

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner Marketable Truth © by Brian E. Faulkner

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People Power as a Competitive Advantage.

8/14/2014

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Lowes Foods, a 60-year-old, 100+ store grocery chain based in North Carolina, has made a gutsy move: they’ve put the future of their business in the hands of their people. Their team. Their hosts -- the honorific says it all.

The moment you walk in one of their rebranded, re-cultured stores, you can feel the difference. Smiles seem to arise naturally. Employees greet you and offer their help – and seem to mean it. There’s a refreshing hustle about the place. More spontaneity. Lowes Foods leadership has managed somehow to meld procedure and belief and make it work.

“Cultural branding is really at the core, at the heart of what we’re trying to do,” says the company’s enthusiastic CMO, Michael Moore, a veteran of 28-years in the grocery business. “And what I’ve experienced a lot as I’ve gone to retailers, both in the States and overseas, is that there’s so much emphasis placed on the visual side of the equation, prettying up the store, making it a little bit more shoppable, so on and so forth, but yet there’s nothing that’s done with what we call our hosts.”

Although stores like Publix (1077 stores in six southeastern states), Wegmans (84 stores in the Northeast), Whole Foods Market (371 stores nationally) and Nugget Markets (9 stores in California) are known for getting the cultural piece right. And each rises continuously on FORTUNE’s list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For*.

Nugget Markets claims that their “positive attitude and love of people” sets their associates apart, which – in turn -- sets them apart in the marketplace.

“Our associates are the difference maker,” says Chris Carpenter, their COO and Vice President, “and it is they who separate us from our competition. We believe that when our associates are having fun and feeling valued, there is an energy and enthusiasm that is created—and it transcends right through the guest.”

Lowes Foods’ management gets that. My recent conversation with CMO Moore in one of the company’s stores was interrupted several times by cheers from people in the Chicken Kitchen celebrating completion of another batch of “chicken you’d cross the road for.”

Who wouldn’t rather shop at a store where people are enthusiastic about their work – as long as quality and selection are up to par? Personal experience is just one of a dozen or so competitive factors that set any business apart – along with service, convenience, innovation, etc. Even grocers who sell primarily on price often have other competitive factors in their favor. Aldi for example, is known for its limited inventory, quality merchandise plus low price.

But the people part likely does as much, or more, to attract and hold customers than any other single competitive factor. It’s also the most challenging to make happen -- and sustain -- in the me-saturated American culture. Disney has proven the value (and endurance) of people power for decades.

“The Disney operating style has greatly influenced our training program,” says Moore. “We believe in one of the core Disney concepts in particular, which is when we’re on the floor we’re onstage, and we want the people onstage to be delightful. We want our hosts to be rabid fans, working for Lowes, and we want our guests to feel that love – and feel that commitment and support.”

Even when my local Lowes Foods store was only halfway through its renovation, the cultural transformation already had begun taking hold. I was pleasantly surprised when a man in the produce department engaged me in conversation about the mushrooms I was buying. (see http://theproducemerchant.com/produce-stand-outs/ for more about him)

Customer satisfaction is relatively easy to achieve, because it’s … relative. Creating delight, however, is quite something else and may not even be measurable except by collecting personal anecdotes and tracking repeat business. The man in produce delighted me by offering suggestions on how to store and prepare my mushrooms. A month or so later, a young woman roaming the store with crisp watermelon samples intercepted me in the cereal aisle. Her smile alone was enough to delight. And had I not been a long-time Lowes Foods customer, either "host" would have more than counterbalanced my experience a few weeks prior with the only rude clerk I’ve ever encountered at that store (a memorable example of how not to treat a customer).

“Culture is the driver in our company in all departments,” says Lowes Foods VP of Fresh Sales Chris Van Parys. “While the bricks and mortar have all evolved, of course, the take-away we have the most pride in is our people or hosts. The main focus is taking care of our guests in new and unexpected ways.”

And not everybody fits.

“There’s a certain profile we look for as we think about new hire strategy,” says Moore, “people comfortable with that kind of interaction. The folks who are not, there’s tons of great backstage kind of work that fits better for them. And we really make sure that’s front and center as people are making applications for jobs.”

The new people who have appeared in my local Lowes Foods store recently seem to embody that spirit more readily than the old crew (although there are a few choice holdovers). Even the young workers who stock the shelves have sprouted an upbeat, helpful attitude. You find much the same at Publix, where employees also are owners.

“Providing premier service and a pleasurable shopping experience is what we hang our hat on,” says Kimberly Reynolds, media and community relations manager in their Charlotte, N.C. division, who noted that as far back as 1930, their founder proclaimed that “we shall treat our customers like kings and queens.” Today, how the Publix brand promise plays out in the stores remains their “secret sauce,” as an associate in Fort Mill, S.C. proved to me recently by not only being above-and-beyond helpful concerning a product they did not carry but personable to boot. She personified founder George W. Jenkins' belief that "Publix will be a little better place — or not quite as good — because of you."

Max De Pree, in his seminal little book, “Leadership Is an Art”, talks about covenantal leadership, which I have seen at work in only a small handful of client organizations over the years – from small businesses to billion-dollar consumer products companies and their business units. The culture of a national apparel manufacturer/marketer I consulted to revolved around a passionate leader who created the future, invested the team in it and sponsored their success. But the company's culture proved tenuous. When the leader moved on (or in another case I recall, when corporate ownership changed), the cultural focus and inspired energy dissipated.

Lowes Foods, like Publix, appears to understand that in order to survive, qualities like “team” and “passion” and “commitment” can’t be pasted on. They have to be planted deep and lived out in the attitudes and actions of people who believe they are contributing to a larger cause. Only then can business culture become an enduring – rather than momentary – source of competitive advantage. It’s not something you can fake.

Publix hires people with “a servant’s” heart, which CEO Ed Crenshaw appears to epitomize. Lowes Foods hires people who understand the concept of “host” from the heart out, and their senior management team is quick to credit one another with the early success they’ve achieved in rebranding the chain and building a new culture. That suggests stability in an era when grocery shoppers will change stores on a dime just to get a good price.

Stability alone is no guarantor of success, of course, although stability based on a culture of believers with a can-do attitude can work wonders in attracting and keeping customers – and perhaps even help make a buck or two more than the competitor down the block.

Publix and Lowes Foods are destined to compete more directly in the near future as the Florida chain moves deeper into North Carolina. Customers are sure to respond positively to both stores’ people-powered presentations and reward them with increased business and greater loyalty.

TakeAway: People power can be a powerful source of competitive advantage. How does your culture stack up?

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner *FORTUNE and FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For are registered trademarks of Time Inc.

Tags: Lowes Foods, Publix, cultural branding, Wegmans, Whole Foods Market, Nugget Markets, ALDI

About Brian Faulkner:

Brian Faulkner is a content writer and Key Message expert. He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most. His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years. His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage:

> blogs to establish you as the thought leader / authority in your business category
> case stories that communicate your sales successes and invite prospect inquiry
> testimonials that showcase customer / client satisfaction in 1-2 short sentences
> positioning statements to guide business development & marketing
> landing page copy to set your business or brand apart in a compelling way
> tagline development to attract the interest of your most qualified prospects

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award-winning Public Television writer and narrator of over 100 segments for UNC-TV’s popular Our State magazine series, on the air since 2003.

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sample blog:

This is a sample blog for writer Brian E. Faulkner. It presents stories about brands that do (or don't) communicate competitive advantage effectively. Stories have been gleaned from the business press, personal experience and occasional interviews. New articles are added from time to time, and every so often there will be a post of general interest -- about things like success, passion, social trends, etc.

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Brian Faulkner is a writer and strategic communication consultant who helps business clients explain their competitive advantage in compelling and enduring ways.

He also is a five-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer & narrator for a highly-rated and well-loved magazine series.

Pick Up The Phone And Smile: An Unusually Satisfying Business Experience.

If You Want a Great Job, Interview companies With Good VIBES.

The Customer is Culture at this Successful Company.

People Power as a Competitive Advantage.

About Brian Faulkner:

sample blog:

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