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Building a company or business up from scratch can be a very difficult feat to face. Companies worry about how they are going to attract their fan base or target audience everyday as well as how they are going to retain their fan base and turn them into “zombies” so to say. Marketing and PR expert, Peter Shankman, explains how to turn consumers into craze fans that will increase your brand awareness and overall raise your company’s revenue for you. In his book entitled, Zombie Loyalist: Using Great Service to Create Rapid Fans, he gives details on the importance of customer service, employee opinions, and creating your company culture.
1.Superhero employees
Shankman begins by describing the importance of not only customer service but the treatment of employees in the workplace.
“77 percent of customers in the United States reported at least one experience of rudeness in an interaction with a customer service representative,” said Shankman.
This is mostly due to the fact of the employee not having a good day. He suggests that in order to lessen the effect of bad customer service, businesses should “Implement preemptive strikes that keep your employees happier than the average employee at the average company.” Creating a sense of value to the customers will result in a better quality of service for their customers.
I have a friend who works for Salad Creations and she constantly complains about working there. One day I asked her, “Why do you hate working for Salad Creations so much, they seem like a pretty chilled place to work?”
She responded by saying, “The managers don’t allow us breaks anymore and in the past they use to give the workers [who are mostly students] a voucher ticket for a free meal from any Aramark company on campus. Now they don’t at all which isn’t fair since they are throwing all of that food away at the end of the working day.”
This proves that rewarding your employees will benefit your business because they will be more eager to help the customers. “If employees don’t feel valued, why should they bother making sure customers do?” said Shankman. Your first goal should be creating “superhero employees” because they are the people who are going to create your Zombie Loyalist every time they intermingle with them.
I bet you’re thinking, what the heck is a Zombie Loyalist? Zombie Loyalists are those fans that are so passionate about a product that they will go above and beyond to get their hands on that product or go support that business. They are so crazy about it that they practically do promotions for you because they tell everyone about it, which is the best type of marketing word of mouth or guerilla marketing.
2.Company culture
The number one rule of building your zombie fans is to “get your entire company to understand that nothing is more important than the customer”. This is entirely true because when you build your company to honor the customer they will always remember the great service your company offers.
I use to work for Bloomingdales as a sales associate in their Dress department. The most memorable thing we learned in orientation was their Loyalty program. If you are familiar with this prestigious department store you will know that they honor their customers with loyalty points that in return give them either discounts or special perks. Customers will receive a point for every dollar spent and they have chances to receive double points in cosmetics and fragrances. Every time a customer reaches 5,000 points they earn a $25 Reward Card.
Due to this loyalty program, Bloomingdales know which customers are returning to their services, how much those customers normally spend, and in return will know how to attract other customers who don’t shop often to keep coming back for their services. Since they have this program to honor their customers, the customers always returned because they like the treatment of the companies’ culture. However, the employees receive rewards too for getting customers to sign-up for the Loyalty Program card or Bloomingdales card. With employees receiving an incentive it gives them the enjoyment to share the program because they know it is valuable information to share and get rewarded by doing so accordingly.
3.Communication in the company
Another great key in building your company zombie loyalist is to have great communication among your business leaders and employees. Even external communication with outside sources or vendors needs to be connected efficiently with communicators in your business. Shankman explains that “from the CEO to the receptionist, everyone needs to have access to everyone else; every department needs to be connected to every other department.” In customer service you shouldn’t have to wait weeks for a response when everything is now delivered within seconds. I also feel that it is important for employees to know who they’re company leaders are and be able to talk to them about issues that may come to mind. I remember while working at Bloomingdales the different level of managers, as well as the store manager will walk around the department store to talk to the employees. I find this important because I was able to build a relationship and learn from these leaders of a company that I was a part of.
4.Unified corporate culture
Something that stood out to me the most while reading this book was that every employee in a company should know what their role is and duty is in the establishment. Like Shankman describes, “unified corporate culture” is when every employee understand that it’s their job to help grow the company. So some companies will have their sales people work on the factory floor every once in a while. The employees then gain a full understanding of their products and what it is that they are actually selling. “Unified corporate culture requires every employee to understand that it’s their job to help grow the company.” This is vital because some people may be in a position or special division in their job where they may feel that job duty is beneath them but if the companies altogether understand that they are all there for the same goal then there wouldn’t be this problem.
With these pointers you are sure to begin the process of creating your own personal zombie loyalist. With everything comes practice and time to experiment with what fits your personal business or brand but with Peter Shankman book you are sure to learn some profitable tips.
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