Don’t EVER Doubt How Leadership Impacts the Employee Experience, Customer Experience, and Overall Brand Experience!

Image Credit: Ryan Plomp via UnSplash

Today, I feature an interview with Debbie Laskey, MBA. With two decades of marketing experience and an MBA Degree, Debbie developed her marketing expertise while working in the high-tech industry, the Consumer Marketing Department at Disneyland Paris in France, the nonprofit arena, and the insurance industry. 

Her expertise includes brand marketing, social media, employee engagement, leadership development, and customer experience marketing. Since 2002, Debbie has served as a judge for the Web Marketing Association’s annual web award competition. Her Blog has been recognized as one of the "Best 21st Century Leadership Blogs" and also as a "Top 100 Socially-Shared Leadership Blog." Be sure to visit both her website and her blog.

 

Debbie and I have known each other since 2009, when we worked together virtually for MicroMentor, Debbie on the West Coast, and me in the Midwest – and Debbie has appeared here on my blog many times over the years, sharing insights about marketing and leadership. Search “Debbie Laskey” for previous appearances.

 

In my blog posting today, Debbie answers the following questions:

 

Question: In the newly released book, The Experience Mindset, author Tiffani Bova recommends that when companies are attempting to keep up with relentless demands of customers, that they don’t favor the customer experience (CX) over the employee experience. She wrote, “Leaders should consider the implications for employees whenever making strategic decisions to improve CX.” Do you agree with this approach? Why or why not?

 

Debbie Laskey: In the CORNER OFFICE section of The New York Times, there was a memorable interview on January 29, 2011, entitled, "Hey, Rock Stars: Take Your Show SomeplaceElse," conducted by Adam Bryant of Michael Lebowitz, founder and CEO of Big Spaceship, a digital marketing and communications agency.

  

Lebowitz said, "At one job, I watched as a lot of decisions were made behind closed doors and then dictated to the staff without any bridging of the feasibility gap. I remember one website where the owners of the company said, “O.K., we promised this really cool idea to the client.” At the time, it felt genuinely impossible. That experience has informed tremendously how we structure what we do now — you can’t disenfranchise people from the process by just giving them orders."

 

I share this quote because, while leaders may wish to emphasize the value and importance of employees and the overall employee experience, which may not translate to execution. Just as we talk about "walking a mile in the customer's shoes," to understand the overall customer experience and customer journey, we also need leaders to "walk a mile in different employee's shoes" to truly understand the employee experience. Unfortunately, too many leaders climb the corporate ladder, and more often than not, forget about all the steps along the way.

 

Question: As a leader, how best do you empower employees to provide optimum customer experience and go beyond when necessary to fix a poor customer experience?

 

Debbie Laskey: Two words: TAKE OWNERSHIP!

 

Whenever I have had a bad customer experience, I wonder how the outcome could have been positive rather than negative. I am known to say, “I would rather pay for a meal than getting it free, because if it were free, someone provided such horrible service or the meal was wrong, and a manager believed that by not paying, everything was made better. If I paid, then nothing was wrong.”

 

No matter what the industry, if an error occurs, someone can fix it – they just need the tools and authority to do so.

 

Here’s a story from my customer service research about a customer who called Zappos requesting a specific pair of shoes. Zappos did not have the shoes, but the Zappos customer service agent searched online and found the shoes on Amazon while on the phone and told the customer to go to Amazon. Was the Zappos agent trained to do that? Did the Zappos agent have the authority to give Amazon business? Note: this was before Amazon purchased Zappos (July 2009, in case you’re wondering). The moral of the story is that the Zappos employee was trained to provide customer service…in this instance, the agent found a solution to the problem even though it did not result in a sale for Zappos.

 

I provide this story as an example of how employees can think outside the box when attempting to fix poor customer service. Sometimes, a simple apology will work. Other times, more action is needed. But employees need to take ownership and be genuine solution providers.

 

Question: How is providing the best possible brand experience impacted by social media? How does social media make it better and how does it make it worse?

 

Debbie Laskey: Social media has opened a door for brands to easily and quickly communicate with their fans, followers, and customers. However, leaders and their brand marketing/marketing/PR teams must have a “social media strategy” that aligns with their overall marketing plan for response and engagement, or the communication with their audiences will fail.

 

Consider Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter late last year. How many brands left Twitter overnight with no explanation, no sign-off, and no press release? Later, we learned why big brands like NPR, left, but for audiences who regularly counted on Twitter to connect, engage, and/or follow their favorite brands, this lack of attention to a speedy departure felt wrong, no matter how one felt about Musk’s takeover.

 

About a decade ago, there was a joke in marketing circles that leaders did not take social media seriously and asked a teenager (often, a relative) to handle their Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts. This may or may not have been true, but many accounts were unprofessional. This is why I (and many other marketing professionals) have always said, “Your social media policy MUST ALIGN with your overall marketing strategy.” Otherwise, the accounts look like a teenager runs them!

 

If executed well, then content posted on social media platforms will align with a brand’s overall marketing strategy. Content will be consistent. The look and language of the brand will be the same on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc. The posts will clearly represent a brand’s image and mission, and users will immediately know that the content reflects your brand. If not, well, users may comment using the hashtag #brandfail – and be confused. And you never, ever want to confuse your audiences because they may go to the competition! Leaders, are you listening?

 

Question: Some will argue that overall, customer service is worse than it has been in years. Do you believe that is the case and if so, what can business leaders do to reverse that situation?

 

Debbie Laskey: The Covid pandemic has changed everything, and yes, customer service has moved down on the list of important items to leaders. However, leaders in all industries have an opportunity to improve their customer service rather than simply using the expression, “We cannot do something or don’t have that product DUE TO THE COVID.” How often have you heard someone say that?

 

There have been so many times during the last three years that I’ve visited the grocery store and noticed empty shelves or near-empty aisles (remember the hoarding and resulting lack of toilet paper!). However, some grocery store employees would explain the lack of items and apologize. Others would ignore the situation. Other stores had fewer employees, and still others would agonize over wearing gloves and masks. My point is that there were many ways to deal with the same situation, thus, the opportunity to stand out with excellent customer service by never forgetting that businesses need customers to survive. 

 

In today’s less severe post-covid era, leaders of all industries have the opportunity to return to an emphasis on positive, memorable, and quality customer service. They need to empower their employees/teams/internal stakeholders. They need to offer regular training to their teams. They need to provide positive reinforcement to their teams. And lastly, and most importantly, they need to ask their teams to walk a mile in their customers’ shoes so that they know first-hand the type of experience that is being provided.

 

When I worked in the Consumer Marketing Department at Disneyland Paris in 1995, there were opportunities to transform oneself and work in the theme park. That meant changing from office attire and becoming either a ride operator, a restaurant worker, or a retail store worker, or a clean-up worker. This was an excellent way to, in other words, go undercover to learn how marketing strategies were implemented and how guests responded.

 

This type of learning can be applied by leaders in just about any industry, and I strongly urge ALL leaders to try it!