When the closest supermarket to my home closed for remodeling, I went to the next nearest supermarket and stopped first at the service desk. "I'd like a Star card," I said. This is a scannable plastic card that authorizes discounts upon checkout for regular customers.

"We're all out of applications," the counter clerk replied.

I stared. "That's a great way to welcome a new customer," I responded.

The clerk shrugged.

As I shopped, I could see the discounts I was not getting mounting up to more than $5.00. I fumed. Surely there was some way to give me the discount without a proper application form. Several days later, when I did return -- reluctantly -- to the supermarket and filled out the application, I saw that it was an ordinary sheet of paper that could have been faxed over from another store upon a phone call to another store by the counter clerk.

Everyone has a story like this. You can do the greatest job pulling in buyers, have class-A products, and then one person in the delivery-of-service chain messes up, creating a frustrated customer who flees at first chance. That's why everyone throughout your organization has to understand what attracts and repels buyers, why everyone must feel that attracting new customers and satisfying existing ones is part of their job responsibilities. In short, everyone must think like a marketer.

Everyone who works for you or with you must remain alert to opportunities to please, sell, convince, impress, inform and solve problems for potential, current and past customers. They need to understand that the company's good health and future are on the line dozens, hundreds or thousands of times each day.

THE FINANCIAL IMPACT

Let's look first at all the ways in which a "Marketing isn't my job" attitude hurts a company's bottom line.

* Lost new customers. The supermarket I mentioned above, like any store, should have trained the person working the service desk to understand that anyone asking for a discount card was in effect saying, "I'd like to become a regular customer." In many supermarkets, a typical customers spends $50,000 or so over ten years -- a value the store must impress on that clerk. The moment of someone asking for a card represents a pivotal moment in turning a prospect into a loyal customer. Someone in that position thus deserves a smile, a welcome -- and a discount that very day, somehow.

In fact, however, the supermarket in my story missed an opportunity not just with me but with hundreds, perhaps thousands of people like me, forced to shop elsewhere for a few months. I suspect the applications ran out because many more than usual new customers were showing up and asking for them. If everyone in that operation were trained to think like a marketer, and the people who nominally had marketing responsibility somehow hadn't realized a nearby competitor had closed down temporarily, the service person I spoke with could have said to me, "Hmm, is there some special reason so many people are applying for cards this week?" I would have told her, and she could have passed the news on up the line.

If I'd received not only an application but also a welcome packet with coupons for special bigger-than-normal discounts -- or even more proactively, received something like that by mail from the new supermarket, they would have a significant opportunity of winning my loyalty so that I'd shop there even after my nearer option opened up again.

* Customer defections. The bank I do business with is located inside the supermarket now remodeling, and they stand in danger of losing me as a customer. Previously the bank's ATM machine was available most of my waking hours, seven days a week; now, it's reachable an average of six hours a day six days a week. Although I received a postcard from the bank explaining the new reduced hours, I wasn't told where I could find another ATM during other hours. Everyone manning the branch must have their antennae up to detect signs that the inconvenience annoys customers enough for them to switch. People like me would be happy to tell them what else they can do to keep my business! And again, if people throughout your organization understand how mass defections would affect survivability, people are more likely to act appropriately.

* Negative or absent word of mouth. Each happy customer tells an average of one person about their satisfaction, while each unhappy one tells nine. Often that nine does not include the company he or she is unhappy about! Thus, to assess the financial impact of an unhappy customer, you need to multiply the value of each no longer spending as before by nine.

Remember too that positive word of mouth, person to person, has more credibility and less cost than almost any other form of marketing. Thus there's also a financial hit from people in your organization who don't consider themselves marketers failing to recommend your company as they would if they were thinking and acting like a marketer.

* Poor press. If you're particularly unlucky or make monstrous mistakes dealing with customers, a dissatisfied buyer can turn to a TV or newspaper consumer reporter, who broadcasts both the complaint and how your personnel tried or didn't try to solve it when the reporter interceded. Each negative story in the press influences scores of people who might otherwise have become customers to hold back.

* Lost opportunities. In many organizations, executives man the incoming phones, walk the factory floor and perform checkout duties a few hours a month because such front-line experiences make them aware of factors that could be improved. But if everyone thought of themselves as marketers, awareness of potential betterments would be widespread and improvements could be implemented more quickly. Lost revenues in this category are hard to estimate, but they exist.

* Greater employee turnover. When staff fail to act like marketers, it's often because they feel alienated from the company they work for. In turn, that alienation leads to greater turnover, which costs the company more for inefficiency and extra training.

MAKING EVERYONE A MARKETER

When you harness the creativity and commitment of everyone in your employ, so that they feel at least partly responsible for attracting and keeping customers, you'll see a spike in revenues and profits. Here are some specific measures that help accomplish that.

1. Educate employees. Figure out the annual or lifetime value of a customer, and convey that figure to all who interact with customers. If staff understand the concept of "everyone a marketer" intellectually but don't change their behavior, you probably have a serious morale problem that is causing big-time leakage from your bottom line. It may be time to bring in consultants for diagnosis and remedies.

2. Instill pride and reward professionalism. Praise people who reflect well on the company when they do their job, by driving company vans courteously, by shoveling snow and ice off the store's sidewalk before being asked, by performing extra callbacks to customers who'd had a problem, to be sure it was resolved to their satisfaction. During employee evaluations, ask people to tell you how they have contributed to the organization's positive image.

3. Create an opportunity alert system. Implement a system that enables front-line employees to pass along ideas for better satisfying customers or capitalizing on new needs. Publisher Marty Edelston, president of Boardroom Reports in Greenwich, Connecticut, dispenses $100,000 a year to employees who provide suggestions. Is it any wonder he's able to generate $125 million a year in revenue from just 80 employees? Others bestoy Employee-of-the-Month recognition on those taking such initiative.

4. Enable employees to become walking billboards. Since it could be taken to show lack of confidence in American-made cars, one U.S. car manufacturer discouraged employees from parking foreign cars visibily in its plant parking lot. A more positive step in this direction is making it possible for staff to wear clothing imprinted with the company logo, to tote stuff to the beach in company-imprinted bags and to sip coffee from insulated company mugs on fishing trips.

5. Empower employees to solve problems. Often a "Marketing isn't my job" attitude stems from employees lacking enough latitude to take creative actions that solve problems quickly enough to secure high customer satisfaction. Employee focus groups will let you know what changes, if any, are needed to foster a climate where people go beyond the call of duty to smooth the way for customer delight.

6. Implement a system for suggestions and feedback from customers. When I was a kid, most businesses seemed to have a suggestion box. It's the exception now, but I believe a highly visible method of soliciting feedback remains an important vehicle for correcting problems, making adjustments and making sure you prevent lost customers and negative word of mouth.

Boston-based marketing and publicity consultant Marcia Yudkin helps business owners around the world creatively spread the word about their offerings. She's also a syndicated columnist through ParadigmTSA, a public radio commentator and the author of nine books, including Six Steps to Free Publicity and Persuading on Paper. In addition, Marcia Yudkin delivers eye-opening, content-rich, motivating seminars on publicity and marketing to business and professional groups nationwide.

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Copyright 1999 Marcia Yudkin and ePromos. All rights reserved.