Living theHow to Turn Frontline Employee

by ANDERS GRONSTEDT

ftnders Gronstedt, Ph.D..a former member of the gtaduate

Integrated Marketing CDmmunlcationsfaculty at the University of Colorado,

is known worldwideas a management consultant,

speaker and the author of"The Customer Century:

Lessons From World-Class Companiesin Integrated Communications."

He can he reached atanders@gronste{IIgraup.Dom.

ID

illions of dollars are investedin brand-oriented marketingcommunication every year,but much of the momentumgenerated by theseexpenditures is squanderedby well-intentioned frontime

employees who aren't delivering on the brandpromise.

Senior executives now face a daunting, yetessential, challenge: transforming frontlineemployees into proud, effective brand ambassadorsand communicating the brand across "the lastthree feet" of customer contact. World-classorganizations like Avaya, Volvo Cars and Sprint areturning to the four "S's"—storytelling, simulating,selecting and surveying employees—to helpeveryone in their organizations "live the brand."

Surprisingly few companies manage themessages that sales and service employees deliverat the point of customer contact. That explainswhy most frontline representatives are sonotoriously off brand message. Store clerks toooften don't understand that the customer-retention process begins before the new customerleaves the store. Sales reps don't recognize that

I l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l

they're serving a client who might be worthUS$100,000 in revenue during the coming fiveyears. Field techs rarely appreciate that they'remore important in shaping public perception ofthe company's brand than the people who craftedthe brand message, logo and ad campaigns in thefirst place.

Every day this oversight transiates intothousands of lost opportunities to cross-sellproducts, improve satisfaction and retention, andbuild brands.

Although the value of evangelical employees israrely disputed, there's a general lack ofcommitment behind the rhetoric. Measuring andmanaging brand communication at the frontlines requires orchestration of the four S's.Some of the best, most forward-thinkingcommunication programs use stories and storytellingtechniques to engage employees and increaseretention, and they use simulations to provide aspace for them to practice what they've learned.They se/ecMop-performlng brand ambassadors

Brandnto Branc"

and, as a checkup, they sun/ey employees asrigorously as their customers.

TELLING THE STORYThe age-old art of storytelling is as universal as itIS effective at energizing the troops. Duringtelecom equipment-maker Avaya's annual salespowwow in Las Vegas last November, the salesforce was treated to short movies chroniclinghighly successful sales stories. One of the stonesstarted with an account rep recounting how theteam was brought into an account and told on thefirst day that it would be out in four years; theclient had decided to hand all of its business to acompetitor. The movie was interrupted at variouspoints to let the audience of 2,400 field reps,using handheld remote devices, vote on what theywould do next. For instance, would they godirectly to the executive suites, schedule moremiddle management meetings, set up a producttest or roll over and play dead? The next segmentof the film followed the heroic actions of the sales

team as it battled to win over the client. Theaudience burst into applause when the sales teameventually reclaimed the client's business.

These stories breathed life into Avaya's brandmessage of selling strategic solutions that addressclient business needs and help customers reach"a higher plane of communication."

A second fictitious sales case presented on thebig screen allowed audience members to participatein the development of a virtual success story byvoting on actions that should be taken at criticalstages in the sales process. Such stories are notonly moving, but they also move people to action,

SIMULATING EMPLOYEE-CUSTOMER INTERACTIONActive, engaging simulations take storytelling tonew levels, allowing the audience to activelyparticipate in constructing the story. Employeescan create their own individual stories, andinnovative technologies help illustrate the brandcredo and inspire productive action.

People often learn best by doing. Simulationsallow them to use their knowledge over and overbefore trying it out on customers and before theyforget what they've learned. The best way to learn

« Surprisingly fewcompanies managethe messages thatsales and serviceemployees deliverat the point ofcustomer contact.That explains whymost frontlinerepresentatives areso notoriously offhrand message.»

THOF

Storytelling. If you want to capture the imagination of frontline employees, tell

them a story. Companies that are "living the brand" use the age-old art of

storytelling to energize their troops.

Simulating. Put frontline employees "in the cockpit" of a virtual customer service

simulator, letting them practice the tasks they'll be executing in their daily work—

before they start practicing on real customers.

Selecting. Hire top performers by assessing their attitudes and observing their

behavior in simulated customer interaction scenarios.

Surveying. Shift a small percentage of the dollars spent on external consumer

marketing research to study your own employees who are supposed to deliver on

the external marketing promises.

mil how to represent the brand is to actually practicerepresenting the brand. In a landmark study, theNational Training Laboratory found that call centeragents retain 90 percent of what they havelearned when they're able to work with asimulated real-world experience.

The goal of all simulation-based training is tocreate an environment that's as close to the realwork as possible. Allowing employees to see whathappens when they give the customer a rushed

response, a lame excuse or a canned pitch helpsthem understand their jobs from the customer'spoint of view. If they have trained for their jobs ina simulated environment, sales and serviceemployees will have already faced situations thatusually would take months of customer calls,coaching and training to master—all before theyleave the training environment and without therevenue-draining process of using real customersas guinea pigs. Frontline employees are no longerasked to memorize abstract concepts andformulate their own conclusions as to how toapply brand concepts. They get experience bydoing. The future holds huge opportunities forcompanies that use simulations to manage themessage that their field force delivers at the pointof customer contact, enabling them to create aunique and differentiated customer experience.

Simulations can be used to train and leveragefield managers as well. Volvo Cars of NorthAmerica is using online simulations to teach retailmanagers how to stretch their publicity budgetsand boost brand awareness and sales. The web-based program offers hands-on learning forretailers, who can immediately begin usingtechniques to engage local reporters and editors in

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the Volvo story, as well as develop proactiveprograms that build the Volvo and retailer brands.

SELECTING TOP PERFORMERSAn organization's commitment to "living thebrand" starts with hiring the right people. Whatbetter way to test job hopefuls than to place themm a real customer interaction scenario? ForrestLake Ford asks all applicants to complete anonlme simulation as an initial stage of the hiringprocess. The Minnesota-based auto dealer putscandidates into the shoes of an actual sales repand scores their performance. The web-based toolhas been scientifically proven to identify topperformers before they set a foot on the showroomfloor, scoring them on the seven most importanttraits of successful auto salespeople. With annualemployee turnover somewhere north of 40 percentin the automotive retail industry, and the cost ofhiring a bad candidate at around US$30,000, thereturn on investment proposition for thesimulation-based screening tool is straightforward.The value to the auto retailer's brand is hard toquantify but even harder to discount.

Once top performers have been selected, theyneed to be transformed into raving brandambassadors. Swedish hospitality conglomerateStromma Turism & Sjofart AB was faced with thechallenge of leveraging cross-selling opportunitiesand projecting a consistent brand across itsdiverse hospitality operations. It was a tall order,considering that thousands of seasonal employeesare hired each year to work in numerous divisions,from cruise ships in the Stockholm archipelago toski resorts in Lappland.

To orient new employees before their first dayon the job, Stromma launched an onlineemployee-training program. In simulatedinteractions with customers on the computerscreen, new hires are challenged to practice crosspromoting the company's various services, and liveup to the service qualities of the Stromma brand.Requiring new employees to access web-basedtraining from home is no problem in a country thatleads the world in internet penetration. Tomotivate trainees, the company awards eachemployee who successfully completes the traininga free pass to all Stromma's recreational activities,an mcentive that also fosters the employee'sknowledge of other Stromma operations.

SURVEYING THE TROOPSMost frontline employees spend more time withcustomers in one morning than brand managers doin a month, or possibly a year. Why not solicit theirinput on how products and services are designed,priced and promoted? Surveying frontline personneland transferring their opinions, feelings and ideasup the ranks of the organization are essential tocreating an organization that lives the brand.

Sprint's PCS cellular phone division conducted an

internal audit of its brand messages that includedin-depth interviews with some 40 senior executivesand frontline workers to explore how the brandmessage could be better internalized by the entireorganization and delivered at every point of customercontact. The purpose of the study was to assesswhich customer-engagement functions were "livingand breathing the brand" and, correspondingly, toidentify touch points where Sprint could improvethe delivery of its brand message.

Nonintegrated information systems, for instance,made it hard for frontline employees to quicklyaccess information they need to provide a clearinteraction with the customer. Based on its survey.Sprint PCS concluded that a series of fairlyuncomplicated correctives could be applied tothese operational issues in the short term, and in thelong term initiated a strategic program to addressthe deeper corporate and structural issues fromwhich most of the operational problems derived-

Internal surveys like these are still theexception. Marketing departments frequentlyspend millions conducting focus groups andtelephone interviews, crunching numbers andsegmenting customers, yet neglect to get into theminds of the call center agents, delivery peopleand sales force that embody the brand in themind of the customer.

As Avaya, Sprint, Volvo Cars, Stromma andForrest Lake Ford will confirm, the only source ofsustainable competitive advantage in the 21stcentury marketplace lies in strong customerrelationships, which are built by employees on thefrontline. They are the face of the brand, the "lastthree feet" of customer communication. Frontlineemployees and local managers need to be trained,empowered and supported to consistently delightcustomers and integrate communication at everybrand contact point. B!i9

Online demos of learning simulations:

> www.hirethewinners.com

(the car sales simulator referenced in mam article)

> www.elearning.hbsp.org

Harvard Business School publishing

Suggested books on simulation-based learning;

> "Designing World-Class E-Learning: How IBM,

GE, Harvard Business School, and Columbia

University Are Succeeding At E-Learning"

by Roger Schank

> "Simulations and the Future of Learning: An

Innovative (and Perhaps Revolutionary) Approach

to e-Learning" by Clark Aldrich

> "Digital Game-Based Learning" by Marc Prensky

f I I

« Marketing departmentsfrequently spendmillions conducting |focus groups and Itelephone interviews, |crunching numbers Iand segmenting icustomers, yet neglect =toget into the minds |of the call center Iagents, delivery people |and sales force that Iembody the brandin the mindof the customer.» D