I often hear this question related to customers – the ones “outside” of the organization.
What about inside our organizations? Do we approach our colleagues as customers to
whom we market ideas?
We all need to get things
done. With few exceptions, we all need
to work with other people to meet these goals.
Are we marketing to
them? We should be!
When we’re marketing a
product to a customer, we don’t expect them to blindly accept our perspective.
We get to know them and
attempt to build a relationship.
We try to understand their
challenges and aspirations as best we can.
We try to fulfill their wants
or needs while still meeting our own objectives.
We often adjust our
approach if we see that we haven’t fulfilled their needs optimally.
Why would we treat our
colleagues any differently?
Technorati tags: Business, Internal Marketing, Change Management, Buy In
I didn't mention customers, but colleagues I can be persuaded to hug consensually.
Posted by: John Dodds | July 28, 2006 at 09:21 AM
Have you been hugging your customers again, John? Over here in the US you can get in trouble for that :-)
Posted by: ann michael | July 27, 2006 at 02:33 PM
Since hugging colleagues is probably forbidden, I suggest that everyone invest in a collection of message-sloganed T shirts.
Posted by: John Dodds | July 27, 2006 at 02:21 PM