Great Employees = Passionate Consumers

Companies spend millions of dollars each year identifying their brand, and then communicating their brand promise through various media.

Employees are the primary "media" in the majority of brand contacts. Raise your hand if you think a majority of your employees understand your brand promise well enough to live it and articulate it clearly.

Gallup research of 300,000 businesses indicates that 75% to 80% of your people are achieving much less and feeling far less enthusiastic about their work than they could be. If all your employees were "fully engaged," Gallup says your customers would be 70% more loyal, your turnover would drop by 70%, and your profits would jump 40%.

The research also found that consumers who felt fast food restaurant employees did a great job were five to six times more likely to come back to that brand. At banks where employees stood out, the customer was six to 20 times more likely to continue the relationship.

Additionally, great employees also tend to engender "passionate" customers. For example, customers who praised store-level associates were 16 times more likely to be passionate about the retailer's brand.

My analogy is this: drop a pebble into a pond and the largest splash occurs at the point of contact and then radiates outward in circles. The point of contact, from a branding perspective, is inside your company. Get employees on board from an emotional perspective and they carry their passion out to the next circle: customers. Passionate customers carry it beyond to prospects through word-of-mouth.

Communicate your brand position with your employees, and unleash some passionate financial results.

Harry Hoover is managing principal of Hoover Ink PR. He has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Brent Dees Financial Planning, Focus Four, Levolor, New World Mortgage, North Carolina Tourism, TeamHeidi, Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, VELUX, Verbatim and Youth Link USA.

Smart Staffing: Replacing a Key Manager

Have you been in this situation? One of your top... Read More

Why Business Owners Need Security

The main reason is to stop any potential lawsuits from... Read More

Burger on a Bun Decision Making

When approaching any decision, it's important for individuals to maintain... Read More

Bar Charts Brought to Life: Index of Interactive Information for HTML and PDF

Bar Charts and the Information ChallengeWhether one is an unknown... Read More

Better Management Performance - The Easy 3-Step Way

Managers make three mistakes when they try to run businesses.... Read More

Outsourcing Quiz: Cheap Vs. Good

Someone can say, 'Why do you oppose this?' So I'd... Read More

Examining the Relationship Between Employee Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction

Researchers have undertaken numerous studies to look at the connection... Read More

Hiring Tip -- Picking The Best Candidates

I often hear leaders from all types of organizations ask... Read More

The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - Competitive, Not Complementary Action

A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that... Read More

How to Save Money on Training

1) Use a live instructor. Adults learn best by doing,... Read More

Lawyers With 2 Hands And Everything Else

I heard this back a few years ago. The boss... Read More

Innovation Management ? how does the user benefit?

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Protect Your Organizations Proprietary Information

The other day one of our overseas clients called in... Read More

How to Leverage Your Strengths for Peak Performance

Ask almost any business leader how to most effectively develop... Read More

What to do When You receive a Bad Check

As a small business operator, personal checks may be one... Read More

Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines Part I

Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines ? Part IPermission is hereby granted... Read More

Get Over Yourself

Let me tell you a secret.Things don't always go the... Read More

Change Management: Getting Everyone on Board the Change Train

How do you get everyone on board the change train... Read More

Selecting Top Talent: Improve Your Batting Average

I recently gave a presentation to a group of business... Read More

Overcoming the Document Tracking Challenge

"Where did it go? It was here yesterday. Wait. Here... Read More