Reinforce through observation. We observe our employees every day in conversations between themselves as well as those conversations that they may be having with our franchisees, our vendors, etc. You can get a sense of the buy-in and the support by what you observe.
For instance, I sat in on a meeting a couple weeks ago with someone in our marketing department who was in a meeting with a potential vendor. As a part of that meeting, it was discussed very clearly what our overall mission was, what our objectives were with this vendor, what our expectations were.
In that conversation, they were 95 percent right on everything. Then there was an opportunity for us to go back and coach with that other 5 percent. If I’ve got an employee who can get 95 percent of the way there, I think we’re doing pretty good.
They missed an opportunity to provide some additional information. It was not pointed out in the room because that would have been highly unprofessional. You use your opportunities privately to say, ‘Hey, you did great with A, B and C, but you had an opportunity with D that you could have enhanced or bettered your position with.’ That’s usually all it takes.
Tailor the message to the audience. When you’re talking to the customer, it really is about them. It’s not about Home Helpers, for instance. Yes, they should understand who we are and what we do, but at the end of the day, it’s what is the benefit to the customer and how is what we do going to benefit them. While you may not advertise your strategic plan as such, you certainly use your mission and vision statements in all of your areas that are relevant to the client or the customer. You communicate that to them through your marketing materials so that they understand who you are, what you’re about and how your particular product or service is a benefit to them.
Certainly our vendors have a clear understanding of what our overall vision and mission statements are. They may not understand what our specific growth goals are in dollars, but they would understand, for instance, that we intend to bring on X number of new offices this year that they will support through whatever relationship we have with them as a vendor. … They may not have clear insight to the overall strategic plan, but they would have insight to that part of it as it relates to them.
How to reach: Home Helpers, (800) 216-4196 or www.homehelpers.cc; Direct Link, (800) 216-4196 or www.directlink911.com
