Getting from Why to Wow

Lead your employees from one to the other, and your customers will follow: Lessons from the Umbrella Series

How can you expect great growth and customer loyalty for your company if your own employees don’t believe in what you’re doing?

Multi-million-dollar ad campaigns. Billion-dollar product or process overhauls. Massive re-organizations. Millions of dollars in customer rebate incentives and/or dealer sales incentives.

We spend a lot—new ads, new products, new buildings, new incentive programs, etc.—to sell products and, as a result, to grow business.

But maybe we’re forgetting something simple. And yet it’s something so vital to success that, without it, most, if not all, of the millions of dollars’ worth of advertising, redesigning and “incentivizing” efforts will surely go to waste.

We have to start at the heart—the employees of your enterprise—and we have to make sure they believe, that they’re in the know, and that they represent, support and ideally enhance all the investment being made throughout the company. When their passion and energy are real, customers feel it and respond to it.

In our business parable of the same name, we call this taking people “From Why to Wow.” The employees in the book were asking skeptical questions such as:

Every day, these doubts and suspicions are stopping progress—and they should. After all, if your employees are not in the loop, why should they be expected to walk and talk the company line? Think about it: When dealers don’t believe in a new product offering, from where do you think their doubts came? When suppliers are unhappy with your company and the treatment they receive, where does that treatment originate? Quite often, from your employees.

This may sound like I’m saying the employees are at the root of the problem—which isn’t true at all. What I’m saying is that they’re at the heart of the solution.

True story: I was meeting with the CEO of a major manufacturer, and he was commiserating over the failure of a high-end product his company had just launched. Despite it being an excellent product in many aspects, it was a miserable disaster with the dealers, and few customers bought it. The CEO confided that, while he loved the product, he was one of the very few at the company who believed in it. Long story short—his own people expressed their disbelief in the product to the dealers and anyone else. They could talk to hundreds and hundreds of people over a six-month period leading up to the launch.

What else, then, could be expected? The dealers recited verbatim what they had heard from the corporate executives, and the customers did likewise with what they had heard from the dealers. By the way, that launch cost his company hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising, manufacturing and incentives—all in great part due to him NOT taking employees from Why to Wow.

Ways for to move from Why to Wow

Avoid the void.
When there’s a void of information, people will usually fill that void with negativity.Tell the whole truth, because if you don’t, your people will be assuming it’s even worse. We call this facing the “invisible elephants”—you must openly share the big, sensitive issues. Trust me: they’re on everyone’s minds; they’re just not saying anything about them. Even if your news isn’t positive, you’ll be given credit for showing respect to your people by being honest.

Communicate often—to the point of over-communicating.
It’s a vicious cycle, but the faster the pace you have at a company, the more communication is necessary. People expect it. People deserve it.

Educate and motivate.
It’s your job as leader to constantly remind people of what your company stands for, why you are here and what makes you different. That’s what we call “start at the heart.” They will forget if you don’t remind them. And when you do, celebrate it as often as possible.

Beware of change for change’s sake.
Change is not necessarily a motivator. The only reason you’re excited about a change is because you’ve gone through the whole emotional cycle and are now comfortable with it. Your employees won’t have that benefit when the “good news” (change) is thrust upon them. And one more thought on it: Sometimes, changes aren’t necessary; sometimes things are better than we give them credit for being.

Every company and cause should have its own elevator speech.
And every employee within a company should be able to explain what makes your company or new product special, exciting and unique in about the same time it takes to go down a few floors in an elevator. Being able to get the essence of your company in a manner of seconds is key to improving morale and clarity. Employees, starting with your leadership team, need to be trained on your elevator speech. Everyone should know it, from the front desk to the corner office.

When you have passion, you don’t need perfection.
Instead of obsessing on creating the perfect org chart or ideal incentive program, maybe the answer is in front of you—the hundreds or thousands of individuals that represent your company, your brand and your product every day. If they are on the same page—a lot of issues will be solved. Unifying your workforce, no matter how imperfect it may be, can move mountains.

If, like most of our clients, you not only have an extensive employee workforce, but you also have a sales channel that represents you nationwide and even worldwide, they, too, need to be engaged in this thought. Imagine how potent and powerful a brand you’d have if they all have gone from Why to Wow…

Submit your opinion on this article. (0 comments)