Internal WOM and Employee’s Reaction Effect on Your Business

Often as consumers, we come across disgruntled employees. After leaving a restaurant with a rude server or a department store with a sarcastic cashier, you can’t help but think “what was his problem?” The answer is usually “well, wouldn’t I hate my life too if my job was…” As marketers our job is to pick apart advertisements, promotions, customer service, & the overall vibe of a company because we are constantly looking for what will further our clients' businesses.

One key to improving a business is to make sure that the atmosphere within the company is friendly. Internal relations can instantly improve a company’s success. Anybody that has ever worked in retail or a job with multiple supervisors understands the confusion caused by not knowing who you were going to answer to that day.

People want to work for employers that allow them to do their job effectively and with little micromanagement. One way companies can do this is by empowering their employees. Empowerment comes with the knowledge of how to do their job such as how to make sales. For example, personal testimony is the greatest way to sell an item. When I worked at Eddie Bauer, I was at a great advantage when it came to selling to tall women because all I had to say was, "Yeah, I wear these everyday and I'm 6 foot tall." SOLD! A lot of times repeat customers would come in and ask, “how is that running? short? long?” Since Eddie Bauer allowed its employees to try all the clothing and let us buy jeans for $1 a pair in the fall, we were knowledgeable about the products. We were able give our customers the inside scoop on our personal experience with the product like, “yes, they shrank a little or they stretch out in the first hour of wear”. Having the personal connection to the product allowed us to share our personal connection to the clothes.

Another example is when I was employed by Victoria's Secret. They did the same type of promotions as Eddie Bauer by giving the employees the newest hottest product we would be promoting the next few months. Anything from lotion and make up to hair care to bras, they wanted their employees to be able to engage the customers with personal testimony of the product.

However, after working there for 3 years, I saw the quality of the brand start to go decline. They stopped giving “giveaways” to the employees and strongly encouraged them to buy the new product by increasing the discount. Most employees stopped buying the demo products and when people would come in and ask if the new push up without padding worked well, the associates would give blank stares followed by the prepackaged answers which were supplied to us on small cards that we carried around in our blazer pockets. As the prices in the store rose, the quality of the products dropped in addition to the quality of service that employees were able to provide. The employees became frustrated about not making their sales goals because of being uneducated about the product. Plus, the employees could no longer boast at how generous the company was to give free stuff which meant that they could no longer tell everyone about the amazing new product. Being able to say,” my company just gave me the hottest new bra of the season” created excitement and positive WOM internally.

Retail is being hit hard right now with the state of the economy and might say,” We can’t afford giveaways to our employees”. However, can you afford not to keep your employees feeling valued and empowered by knowledge of the product? Increasing your employees’ awareness of how the products they are selling perform is a good business practice because it will increase your employees’ potential to sale and increase customer satisfaction. Keeping your employees happy will keep your customers happy.