Burned Out?

Too busy to perform your job well?

Join the crowd.

New research by Towers Watson reveals that, thanks to workforce cutbacks during the past five years, "employees feel overwhelmed by seemingly impossible workloads and endless demands on their time."

That stress is driving four in every ten employees to "disengage" from their jobs.

Towers Watson suggests that employers need to stop trying to squeeze more out of people and start concentrating on their fundamental need for down-time.

What should employers do?

Towers Watson says they should allow flexible work-schedules, encourage telecommuting, and permit workers to curtail the length of meetings and the hours during which they'll answer emails.

Ironically, while many employers promote wellness programs that offer incentives to employees who exercise, diet or manage chronic illnesses, the same employers are harming their employees with overwork, Towers Watson says.

Thumb Like It Hot

Marketing agency owner Dave Kerpen has followed his first book, Likeable Social Media, with a readable companion, Likeable Business.

The 200-page book sets out to prove Kerpen's thesis that, to run a successful business in chatty times, "businesspeople must be obsessed with their customers and prospects, and always do right by them." The book draws out eleven "principles for a likeable business" that if followed "together make for more likeable leaders and better, more customer-centric organizations."

None of the principles Kerpen sets forth are new (in fact, they've been covered ad nauseam by scores of other writers). But true to his second principle ("Tell great stories"), he includes hundreds of present-day examples that more than justify the time spent reading the book.

Typical of these is the tale of an "authentic" CEO who handed an employee $25,000 after the worker stole that amount in goods from the company, saying, "I must not have given you enough of a bonus last year if you had to steal from us" (the CEO grew up poor and understood the motives for theft). Or the "transparent" CEO who keeps open her firm's financials for every employee and supplier to see, to ensure that "the team maintains its democratic culture."

However, some of Kerpen's stories—namely the ones about himself—make you wonder why his clients trust him with their reputations. The author has committed some real boners. Those stories are another reason to pick up Likeable Business.

Tip #4 for Getting Money

Don't Get above Your Business
Part 4 of a 5-part series on the Golden Rules for Making Money, as set forth in P.T. Barnum's 1880 guidebook Art of Getting Money

You can strive to be excellent. Or you can strive to make money.

You cannot do both.

"The great ambition should be to excel all others engaged in the same occupation," says P.T. Barnum.

Focusing on a fat bottom line is getting above your business. It guarantees you'll occupy a place below competitors.

Focusing on excellence is sticking to your business. It guarantees you'll attract a lot of customers.

"Americans are too superficial," Barnum writes. "They are striving to get rich quickly, and do not generally do their business as substantially and thoroughly as they should. But whoever excels all others in his own line, if his habits are good and his integrity undoubted, cannot fail to secure abundant patronage, and the wealth that naturally follows. Let your motto then always be 'Excelsior,' for by living up to it there is no such word as fail."

Tip #2 for Getting Money

Be Polite and Kind to Your Customers
Part 2 of a 5-part series on the Golden Rules for Making Money, as set forth in P.T. Barnum's 1880 guidebook Art of Getting Money

"Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in a business," writes P.T. Barnum in Art of Money Getting. "Large stores, gilt signs, flaming advertisements will all prove unavailing if you or your employees treat your patrons abruptly."

Politeness begins with fair pricing, Barnum says.

"Men who drive sharp bargains with their customers, acting as if they never expected to see them again, will not be mistaken. They will never see them again as customers. People don't like to pay and get kicked also."

Civility shows in how a business treats not just friendly customers, but the customers from hell.

Barnum tells of an employee who wanted to punch a rude customer.

"He is the man who pays, while we receive," Barnum told the employee. "You must, therefore, put up with his bad manners."

The employee agreed—and asked for a raise.

Another Early Retirement

You can't pick up an advertising textbook that doesn't mention Avis Car Rental's slogan, "We try harder."

The poster child for competitive positioning, the slogan was at the time of its roll-out half a century ago a powerful shot across the bow of the Number One car rental company, Hertz.

Alas, Avis has announced it will retire the slogan in favor of a new one, "It's your space."

Avis' chief marketing officer told Advertising Age the new slogan "presents the brand in terms of the customer experience and the advantages inherent in renting from Avis."

Nothing lasts forever in this wayward world. But I wonder why Avis chose such a humdrum slogan, when it had something so right.

I have a feeling the next early retirement at Avis will be the CMO.

Is Your Customer Experience Broken?

According to brand-builder Christine Mauro, "customer experience" is where it's at.

"Customer experience is about meeting customer needs, about choosing and using certain words, about aligning touch points, and about creating relationships," she says.

But marketers often overlook the three touch points with the biggest effect on those relationships, Mauro says.

Voice. Marketers speak inconsistently and use in-house or industry jargon customers don't grasp. "Establish a distinct voice that brings your brand to life, and stick with that voice," Mauro recommends. "Use clear language and jargon-free terminology. Explain details in simple terms that the customer can understand."

Language. Marketers frequently turn off customers by delivering a "fragmented customer experience." One department handles purchases, another rewards; one, payments, another refunds. Worse, they all use their own terminology. But customers think of you as one entity. All departments "should speak the same language, use the same terms, and create a seamless experience."

Fine print. Marketers often think a pretty Website is enough. But good customer experience stems from presenting information well, including fine print. "Consider every single word and graphic element, down to the tiny print of your Terms and Conditions copy," Mauro urges. Your "unheralded touch points such as bills, policies, and all the functional communications that customers interact with on a daily basis" have a huge impact on customer experience.