In previous posts, I’ve discussed the new rules of marketing and the new definition: Turning strangers into friends. Friends into customers. Customers into raving fans. How does one do that?
There is a great power in the workplace and that power is People. When most of us took marketing courses in school, we learned about the four P’s of marketing: Product, Place, Price and Promotion. But there is a fifth P—People—and it is the power that can move an organization to not only profit, not only growth, but to greatness.
Purpose is another great power in driving performance. The old rules of the industrial age were only about processes and profits. What we are discovering is that when people connect with a purpose aligned with their values, it provides their lives with meaning and can create amazing results.
Imagine a business in an industry with an average annual employee turnover of 200 percent that has a turnover rate of just 20 percent. That business would save over a quarter million dollars per year in recruiting and training. What if that same business could generate a net operating profit of 14 percent compared to its industry average of under 7 percent? How does Nick’s Pizza and Pub, a two-store restaurant chain in Crystal Lake and Elgin, Illinois outperform the entire pizza industry in several areas of operational excellence? People and Purpose.
Nick Sirillo, who set out to create a special corporate culture based on purpose and values, founded Nick’s Pizza & Pub in 1995. He has built a successful organization that not only has no problem attracting and keeping great employees, they also have no problem attracting and keeping loyal, satisfied, raving fan customers.
What Nick has done is put 21st century ideas to work in a pizza shop. He has leveraged the power of people in the workplace and moved beyond employee engagement to employee enrichment.
In the industrial age, products and patents and technology were an organization’s defining assets. Today, business enterprises that are leading us back to high levels of performance and success are people-centered. This means they are actively participating in the development of employees as whole people, not just as inputs to production.
This holistic development contributes to building a richer life for employees. It is a life of meaning and a sense of purpose. Holistic development enriches lives and is not about perks, benefits or parking spaces. Employee enrichment is about the commitment to the relationship in a comprehensive way. It means real caring about personal needs as well as business performance. It’s about getting emotional and being real and truly putting people first.
Many of the attributes of the new rules of business may seem rather “soft,” emotional or personal compared to the rigid rules of the industrial era. What does this mean to the promotional professional? It means that you can suggest solutions that reinforce the purpose, values and meaning of your clients companies and you can recommend high touch products that demonstrate caring.
