 Why Best Buy? If you’ve read my About page, you’ve seen that my day job is internal brand communications at Best Buy. It’s my livelihood. Yeah, I guess you could say it’s my passion. My team and I are working to get all 160,000 of our dedicated employees marching in the same customer-centric, service-oriented direction, providing a consistent and unbeatable shopping experience for consumer electronics consumers across the U.S. — and increasingly, the world (we have operations in Canada, the U.K., Mexico, China and Turkey). For an indication of how we’re doing, see the ticker at right. The links on this page are pretty much all I have to say about that. |
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June 11th, 2010 by timpconnelly
I’m all for companies saving money to improve the bottom line. But there has to be a better way to cut expenses than forcing frustrated customers to call Bangalore, Mumbai or Wherever-the-Heck, India, for help.
Before I rant, a disclaimer: Yes, I know those folks in the call centers are just doing their jobs. I believe they actually want to be helpful and resolve my issues. They’re undoubtedly proud of their work and, to one degree or another, the companies for which they work.
The problem is they’re too detached from the actual problems we consumers face with the products and services they represent (being a couple oceans away and all), and they’re woefully unprepared (not their fault) to analyze problems outside the binder full of scripts on the desk in front of them (“have you tried plugging in the unit? Please plug it in now”). And, of course, there are the language barriers that often result in frustration on all sides as phone reps and customers struggle to understand one another. All that said, teaching Indian nationals to apologize for American companies’ shortcomings does not create a positive customer experience!
So back to my story.
But wait! There’s more …
June 3rd, 2010 by timpconnelly
Ask anyone. I’m a broken record for aligning our corporate brand and strategy messaging at Best Buy – for trying to get communications, HR, marketing and everyone else who communicates brand and/or strategic intent to align around a single message (and while I’ve proposed messages, I’m not married to mine; I’m married to the notion that we need to have one and only one).
While some folks are no doubt sick of listening to me …
- Everyone I talk to agrees we’re misaligned and have many inconsistent, competing messages.
- Everyone I talk to agrees there’s incredible value in alignment.
- Everyone I talk to says it’s work we need to do.
- Everyone I talk to acknowledges we’re not very good at it.
BUT …
- Everyone I talk to says it’s difficult, counter-cultural work here at Best Buy. That said, we all nod knowingly, go back to our cubes and do the same old things – because while alignment on a single, clear compelling message is a good idea, it’s too tough to tackle. The people doing the messaging are going to protect their turf and won’t “play ball” because they don’t have to. So why bother?
Last year, we launched a “brand coalition” and invited various owners of brand-related communicators to come together to hash out issues, draft a single story and align our efforts. Passive aggressive. Disinterest. Fizzle. Crash. Burn. This company has always rewarded those who “do.” Doing thoughtfully hasn’t been a necessary piece of the equation.
The thing is, message misalignment makes it difficult to achieve our strategic goals; wastes the money spent to support competing, overlapping initiatives (in an environment where we’re constantly challenged to reduce SG&A expenses); and frustrates the heck out of customers and employees who haven’t already tuned us out.
So my questions are these:
- If we agree it’s a good idea, why not just do it?
- If we agree that we should do it, why not start now?
- If not now, when?
April 10th, 2010 by timpconnelly
We all know a brand means, in essence, what its customers say it means. A company can shout from the rooftops what it stands for and bellow the fine-point details of its customer-centric promises, but all the best marketing and PR in the world can’t save a brand from lack of follow-through on the part of customer-facing employees. Am I right?
In Branded Customer Service, by Janelle Barlow and Paul Stewart, the authors turn the equation upside-down and pose the question, “What do brands think about their customers?”
Barlow and Stewart offer as an example, Rolex. What does Rolex think of its customers – in my case, me? Their conclusion: I’m not good enough for a Rolex. While I might be tempted to quibble with the notion of falling short of a standard of good enough, there’s no doubt I’m not wealthy enough to drop $10,000 on a luxury watch. Nonetheless, The point is well taken: Rolex’s demographic is limited, I’m not in it, and the brand is perfectly comfortable with me knowing it.
That got me thinking, what does Best Buy (my employer) think of its customers?
But wait! There’s more …
March 11th, 2010 by timpconnelly
All this social media chatter about personal branding reminds me of the dot-com bubble-and-burst of the late ’90s and early double-nots, when entrepreneurs put marketing and advertising in front of anything resembling business fundamentals and watched their stock prices skyrocket … until someone said, “Hey, wait a minute …”
Fast forward to today. Social media is on fire with advice for staking out your little place in the spotlight and promoting your personal brand via personal websites, blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. It’s not terrible advice if that’s your thing, but as was the case in the dot-com era, the focus too often is marketing and advertising, with fundamentals again getting short shrift.
If you need evidence, check out the Twitter widget at right. Read the personal branding tweets as they appear. You’ll see things like, “7 key ways to promote your personal brand,” “10 indispensable tools for personal branding,” “Building personal brand within the social media landscape,” and on and on.
Someone needs to say it, so it might as well be me: “Hey, wait a minute …”
But wait! There’s more …
February 23rd, 2010 by timpconnelly
Harvey Greisman
I was saddened to learn of the death of an old boss of mine last weekend.
Harvey Greisman, a long-time New York-area PR guy, and former IBM communications vice president, died suddenly of a massive heart attack in Florida (even more sadly, on the same day his own father died in the hospice facility where Harvey was paying a final visit). Harvey was just 61.
I worked for Harvey when he was comms veep for IBM Global Services in 2001-02. Harvey could be a tough guy to work for. I remember one particular teleconference where he wanted to ask a question of one of his reports who was talking through a presentation on the phone. Harvey couldn’t get the guy’s attention to break in, so he began aggressively punching buttons on the phone - beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep – and eventually the speaker stopped speaking. Harvey asked some tough questions, told the guy to go back to the drawing board, and the next speaker rose to the virtual podium, a bit more apprehensive than he had been.
But wait! There’s more …
January 28th, 2010 by timpconnelly
Can people in your company or work group tell the difference between good work and great work? How about lousy work? More importantly, does it really matter to your leaders and colleagues which they get?
But wait! There’s more …
