Employees as Brand Ambassadors

After 19 long months, I finally took to the skies (twice, in fact), to attend two different PRSA conferences.

The headlines have been filled with stories of the difficulties in hiring people, particularly in the service industry. We’ve seen it with our clients and have been working with them on creative recruitment strategies.

But as difficult as it may be to hire people, it is still critically important to hire the RIGHT people.  Sadly, there were several instances during these two recent trips where, although it was clear the restaurant or hotel may have been understaffed, the staff that were there did not put their best foot forward when representing the brand to the customer.

There was an opinion piece in Inc. magazine recently referencing Elon Musk’s philosophy on leadership. Among other things, Musk believes strongly in arming your employees with the tools and information they need to make decisions.  By putting trust and power in the hands of your employees you create a more agile and adaptable workplace.  And, in my view, this is how your employees become brand ambassadors.

There should be no better advocates for your business or organization than your employees.  How they engage with your clients and customers will set the tone for the business relationship.  And that’s true whether you are a small business or a large national brand.

As consumers we can be very forgiving when things go wrong.  How your employees handle the situation goes a long way in what happens next.

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