The Top 5 Tools for Social Proof

Transcription

1 The Top 5 Tools for Social Proof and Why They Matter Now More Than Ever Four ways to build a company culture that impacts customer experience

2 Four ways to build a company culture that impacts customer experience Culture plays a vital role in preserving the internal dynamic of a company and the customer experience your team delivers to customers. However, there s often a confusion about what a company culture is actually comprised of. However great that ping pong table and unlimited snack access may be, company culture is about values and a commitment to upholding the values a company builds its reputation on. With reputation making up 25% of a brand s market value1, culture impacts operations, customer retention, and revenue - three focuses far too important to leave to chance. Company culture directly impacts customers with a trickle-down effect, and as complex as culture may be to develop, there are four key steps our own team has taken to foster a culture that translates outstanding service for our own customers. Change comes from within, and these steps can help any company improve on company culture, develop employee brand advocacy, and build increased trust among consumers. 1

3 1. Hire all-stars and nurture their growth It may sound obvious, but hiring candidates who already demonstrate the traits valued by your team is one of the first steps to creating and scaling a team committed to company culture. Your employees are all responsible for preserving company culture, and vetting candidates to look for people who may be an outstanding fit is a must. A great recruiter is your company s cultural gatekeeper, and some of the questions asked during the interviewing process can help evaluate cultural fit: Tell me about your current/last company s culture. Which of the companies you ve worked for had a culture you enjoyed? Why? Which company had the least desirable culture? Why? What are you seeking from a company culture? What about the culture at our company appeals most to you? Why do those interview questions matter? The wildly popular culture document shared by Netflix explains simply: It s easy for any company, regardless of their actual ethics and values, to display values that aren t actually upheld. The actual company values, as opposed to the nice-sounding values, are shown by who gets rewarded, promoted, or let go.2 Additionally, these questions help determine if a candidate understands what culture actually is, versus assuming culture is tied to office perks. All too often, companies with fantastic perks get candidates who are more interested in the snacks than the actual values, and could potentially be a bad fit if there s an initial disconnect in communicating the company culture pre-hire. While a beer at the desk is rewarding, brands need to focus on hiring people who will maintain company values, and this may not always directly translate to commonalities in how people have fun or let loose within the organization. Team members are responsible for upholding company values, and the more your candidates already reflect the values your team holds the most stock in, the easier it will be for your team to scale without losing the integrity of the company culture you work hard to preserve. Openly communicating company values will help your recruiting team appeal to the 96% of job seekers who believe it s important to work for a company that embraces transparency3. 2

4 Sometimes, a candidate is a fantastic culture fit, but may fall short of some of the knowledge or resources needed to fully thrive in a company role. In these cases establishing support and training to help build up team members in need could help you keep a great team member and improve their performance. Is a team member a high performer, but not at all reflective of the company s culture and affecting others? It may be smarter to sever that work relationship and find someone else who is a fit and able to grow into the role while keeping the office on the right cultural track. 96% Seek companies embracing transparency 25% Market value of brand reputation 3

5 2. Transparency and accountability from within Reputation doesn t just hinge on customer engagement. We all remember Enron s fall from grace, and the issues stemmed directly from a lack of ethics, transparency and accountability within their company. Ironically, the company displayed a list of values in their company lobby: Integrity Communication Respect Excellence Clearly, those values read nicely and sound ideal, but the words were not actually reflective of Enron s culture, which could have read more like: Dishonesty Opacity Disrespect Failure A brand would never display those words at the entrance of their office, where potential clients entered to consider partnerships on a daily basis. Still, the reality is, companies who fail to reflect honestly on the actual values within the organization can never truly implement change or understand how to establish employee support to effectively grow positive values that impact customer experience in a positive way. Transparency within the organization helps to build trust among employees, and gives your team a reason to invest more effort into each company role. That effort translates into quality products and services, and affects how customer care and marketing teams engage potential and current customers. "All-stars" produce up to 12 times more than the average employee4, so transparency gives you a tool for exponentially increasing the positive impact employees have on driving outstanding customer experience. What s For Work? CEO Teri Hockett explains the three key facets behind a transparent workplace as...mutual respect between the employer and employees; two, trust and goodwill; and three, clear and consistent communication. This includes being direct when issues come up, and encouraging team members at any level to speak their minds without fear of repercussions - even when the feedback is not positive. After all, much in the spirit of negative feedback helping to drive change on the consumer-facing side, this feedback from employees could help improve internal processes and help realign any areas where company values are falling short of expectations. 4

6 Equally important is accountability. Each team member should know exactly what the company values are, why they matter, and how they apply specifically to roles within the organization. How will each value impact the team? How will each value impact the customer? If there is a failure to uphold a company value, what can the team member do to communicate the problem, solve it, and get the input needed to improve moving forward? Accountability begins at the top. C-Level teams need to establish specific values within the company, create a painted picture of values and company mission, and provide access to the document so employees can refer to the values regularly as a reminder of what the entire team is striving to achieve. Even better, companies should extend these values to the consumer audience so potential customers and other companies understand what helps drive company success. Examples of brands using this approach include Netflix and Spotify, whose company culture documents are wildly shared among other organizations and used as inspiration to direct development of culture for other brands seeking great company culture. How culture is created 5

7 3. Collaboration, communication, consistency To increase transparency and accountability, a consistent environment of collaboration and open communication is vital. One way organizations can help increase transparency is through a daily stand-up activity. Team members stand together and share their contributions and objectives for the day, keeping the group aware of how each employee is working to impact the success of the business. ConsumerAffairs participates in a daily standup across both of our current office locations, and the shared information helps each member understand why each person has value, and keeps teams looped in on day-to-day activities. One of the benefits of the daily stand-up includes communication that leads to collaboration. The impact of collaboration on a company s success is nothing to ignore. 86% of executives and employees cite lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures.5 If a team announces an objective that another team could assist in accomplishing, this open line of communication could help initiate conversations and uncover successful solutions. Lack of collaboration = workplace failures 86% Communication between teams is equally important for feedback and understanding and educating employees on the connections between each department within the organization. Knowing that development or product teams connect to marketing, which connects to customer care, which connects with customers helps develop mutual respect among employees and improve relationships. 6

8 Is your organization international? Offices or even office floors can conduct stand-ups. Off-site employees can participate in virtual stand-ups through tools like Google Hangouts or Teamreporter. Even a weekly stand-up can help open up lines of communication and encourage collaborative efforts across all departments. Your company s commitment to maintaining these connections consistently builds on internal transparency and directly impacts your customers and sentiment around your brand for the better. 4. Employees as culture and brand advocates Great company culture turns your employees into brand advocates. Employees who feel valued, respected, and comfortable being a part of the team will help drive recruitment efforts and connect you with more candidates who are interested in your company values. Additionally, employees as brand advocates will help your marketing team draw awareness to the positivity around the internal brand experience and appeal to consumers who seek transparent, authentic brands to purchase from. In addition to appealing to potential candidates for employment, employees who advocate for the brand across social channels have an impact on generating leads who convert 7x more frequently than other leads6. With a complete understanding of company culture, your employees can convey the brand voice and message clearly, and appeal to the right audience while helping generate more positive brand sentiment online. Reviews from employees work just as effectively as customer reviews for generating social proof to back up the messaging you are conveying to consumers online and offline, and encouraging your team members to become brand advocates will help build on your marketing efforts. Social brand advocacy from employees generates leads who convert 7x more frequently than other leads. 7x 7

9 Don t wait to build company culture It s easy to start with a set of established values and determine which ones are most impactful to a brand. It s much harder to start with a weaker understanding of culture and try to implement changes after the fact. Start sooner than later - employees are eager to be a part of an organization that wants to improve on customer and employee experience, so taking action immediately will help your team initiate rapid changes. Focus on company culture, and your customers will reap the benefits of a team working on a unified front to deliver a quality brand experience on all levels. Sources: _09 ConsumerAffairs. All rights reserved. 8