"There was knowledge trapped in files everywhere," said Marino; but with so many disparate databases, there was no way for his 15-member sales team to get it all. As a result, the sales team benefited very little from sharing best practices and other information. Field inefficiency spilled over into corporate double-work as well. For example, numerous salespeople would ask the corporate marketing staff for current private-label trends in their snack category. Support staff would supply the information again and again, performing the same task many times.

Besides such inefficiencies, the sales teams lacked a way to collaborate and brainstorm online. For example, if a sales team member in the Midwest received some research data and wanted feedback from account executives on the East and West Coast, the opportunity for online collaboration was not available.

The answer? Build a knowledge management portal on Frito-Lay's corporate intranet. Starting from scratch in populating the test portal, Marino and his team began an audit followed by expertise profiles to identify who's who at the Plano headquarters so that people with know-how in such areas as promotion planning, cost estimation, or new product announcement could be readily called upon for assistance. Why was this critical? Because in large organizations a wealth of knowledge exists; yet, with little or no support, someone new in the field can suffer many false starts trying to determine where and from whom to get the needed information.

Because the pilot team was working with confidential client information, security was a top concern. The portal was built so that different sections were password-protected. This allowed only the appropriate users to access confidential information. As Marino explained, the particular customer "had customer information about sales performance that they shared with members of the Frito-Lay team, but we were contracted not to let that information get outside the team that worked with that customer."

A year after the test portal went live, the sales results were telling. The test team doubled the growth rate of the customer's business in the salty snack category. But the benefits didn't stop there. Team members reported more camaraderie and relationship building with each other. From a homepage list of team member birthdays to an automatic message feature that informed team members who was online, the portal proved to be an invaluable tool for helping team members pull together on behalf of a customer. The employee retention rate improved as well. In previous company surveys, sales people complained about geographic constraints and how they didn't feel connected and part of a team. The portal helped improve those issues, as well.

The lesson is this: It's essential that employees who deal directly with customers have the necessary time, tools, and training to get the job done. As Frito-Lay discovered, harnessing various data silos across the organization and putting that information to work for the customer is key to maximizing frontline-ambassador performance.

3. Policies That Turn Customers on, Not off

Frontline brand ambassadors require customer-friendly policies. Even your most well-intended and talented frontliners will not create loyal customers if their efforts are sand-bagged with procedures and processes that make it hard for customers to buy. How do you ferret out problematic policies and procedures? Sure, you can track customer metrics, trend customer complaints, conduct lost customer studies, create customer experience maps, etc. All of these can help pinpoint problem areas. But nothing takes the place of talking directly with customers. And this vital customer listening begins in the C suite.

Two years ago, while presenting at the European Conference on Customer Management, I crossed paths with John Russell, managing Director of Harley-Davidson, Europe. John told me he never relied on surveys and customer research reports, alone, to keep abreast of what's important to customers. Instead, he advocated far more hands-on customer information gathering. "I ride with customers 10-15 days a year," he shared. "At our 100th anniversary celebration in Milwaukee, the job of every VP in the company was to hand out brochures for three days from a booth. I spoke to thousands of customers anonymously. The authority of a job title is a handicap to bosses who want to get at the truth of what's going on for the customer."

In my book, Customer Loyalty: How to Earn It, How to Keep It, I write about Feargal Quinn, founder of Superquinn, a 21-store supermarket chain in Ireland. Growing up in Ireland, Quinn spent school breaks working at his father's Red Island holiday camp. One big lesson for young Quinn was his father's rule of always charging guests at the beginning of their stay for their entire holiday. Explained Quinn, "It was set up so that no matter how hard we worked to give our guests a great experience, we wouldn't increase our profit from their stay. The only way we could judge our success was if the guest came up to my father and said, 'Mr. Quinn, I had a great holiday. I'm rebooking for next year.' Every single thing we did was centered on one overriding aim: to get people to come back."

And these habits continue. In his most recent book, The Ultimate Question, Fred Reichheld describes Quinn's monthly customer listening routine. By any standard, it's aggressive. Quinn drops in on each of his 21 Superquinn stores every month, walking the aisles and talking with customers about likes and dislikes. Two times each month he holds two-hour roundtable discussions with a dozen customers at a rotation of stores. Only Feargal's assistant (who helps take notes) is allowed to attend. To ensure customer candor, no store managers are allowed.

In studying loyalty-maker organizations for over two decades, I've seen time and again a common denominator in world-class companies: The senior executives make customer listening a routine part of their jobs. It's an important means by which senior management keeps the organization on track improving the customer experience and away from internal turf wars that often side-track important customer work.

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The consistent delivery of frontline "wow" in today's 24/7 marketplace is an arduous management challenge. From recruiting, training, and retaining talented frontline ambassadors to keeping abreast of ever-evolving multichannel technologies, it's easy to drown in a sea of seemingly urgent to-do's. But keep a cool head and a clear eye on the abovementioned three time-tested frontliner priorities

It's what kept my dear grandmother returning each month for relationship boosters from her frontline ambassadors. And it's how you'll keep your customers returning.