Mad 4 Blog

My wife loves that new TV series, Undercover Boss, because she thinks it is high time that CEOs and company managers got out from behind their desks to see how things are really working on the front lines.  I couldn’t agree more. But honestly, isn’t this something that every CEO should be doing every year? Surely, they could learn a thing or two about their employees, and more importantly, how to better serve their customers.

Take my recent visit to the Boca Resort Hotel. When my wife asked whether there was a ladies’ room on the floor that we were on, the hotel worker’s response was, “Of course there is.” Not the kind of answer you’d expect from a hotel that thinks it’s as good as a Ritz Carlton now is it?

What would the CEOs of other companies discover if they spent a day or two on the front lines? Well, the CEO of Home Depot might be surprised to see how difficult it is to find an associate to help them in the plumbing department without searching aisles away in electrical or lumber. So I say, let the CEO of Hess find out how many gas stations don’t refill the receipt paper at the pumps and require customers to walk inside to retrieve it. Good way to sell an extra coke and a bag of chips though, don’t you think? Let the CEO of Sports Authority try to buy a pair of athletic shoes and discover that there’s little customer service, nothing in his size, and no suggestion to find it at another store, or ship it to his home. Let the CEO of Office Depot find out how there’s nobody in Business Machines who knows anything about the products they’re selling. Let the CEO of Bank of America stand in line with 6 customers in front of him or her because there’s only one teller window open, yet there are 3 bank officers sitting at their desks with no customers.

In fact, let the CEO of virtually every large corporation in America call into customer service and be taken from one automated operator to another, pushing button after button, and still wait forever to get a “live” person on the other end.

In other words, just be a customer for a day, or a week, and see what your employees are doing right and wrong. Find out what’s working for your customers and what’s not. And for heaven sake, start putting the customer first!

By Stuart Dornfield

By now we’re all aware of the incredible impact that social media can make in terms of brand awareness, promotions, sales and networking. However, social media is a dual-edged blade. With ongoing open access across the globe, the same lines of communication that you’ve opened to strengthen your business may become potential avenues for brand denigration. Although you can’t micromanage your company’s image online, you are in a position to help shape and monitor conversations about your company in public forums. Especially those initiated by your own employees.

The news is littered with stories about employees who use Facebook, Twitter and other online forums to represent their place of business in a negative way. Inflammatory items may include job-bashing, coworker gossip, office confidentialities, inappropriate pictures or simply making a not-so-funny work-related joke. Examples range in scale from enacting personal behaviors which are counterintuitive to company policy to posting controversial remarks about clients. Though these may not be malicious in intent, once a person is publicly associated with your business, you want them to consistently uphold its reputation in all respects, no matter how small.

The foremost thing you can do to protect your business is create a social media policy. Typically, this legal contract is enacted between the company and its employees through your human resources department. Social media policies delineate what online behavior and language is acceptable from employees and reminds them that they represent your company by affiliation at all times, whether or not they’re on the clock. But it isn’t always easy to formalize lines between a person’s professional obligations and private life. Policies should cover:

•    What constitutes social media and the public sphere
•    What type of language and behaviors are approved
•    What company data or materials are considered confidential
•    What repercussions will occur when policy protocols are breached

Most social media policies explicate that it is up to each employee to take personal responsibility for their public representation by using good sense and keeping the company’s best interests in mind. Accountability makes up 90% of social media policies.

Naturally, it’s impossible to govern every message board, every posting and every photo of each of your employees. Businesses can start by monitoring their employee’s computer use while at work, and then follow up by making sure that social media outlets directly affiliated with your brand (such as your Facebook fan page) are free from harmful remarks. Further efforts vary according to budget and business size; however, one simple way to check up on your online representation is to regularly browse for the company name and key words through a standard search engine. This action takes just a few moments of time, but the results can be a very useful for determining how your company is being showcased online and by whom.

With a social media policy in place, when/if employees come into breach of protocol, your business will be in a position legally and ethically to respond with adequate remonstration. Think about it this way: you put so much time, energy and money into building and advertising your brand—so isn’t it worth protecting? One sheet of paper with a few guidelines and room for two signatures at the bottom may be all that stands between your business’s success or failure at the mercy of social media.