This episode is brimming with wisdom and actionable tips focused on employee engagement and the connection between engaged employees and successful marketing outcomes.
It features award-winning speaker and expert Joey Coleman, who works with organizations around the world, ranging from small startups to major brands, to craft unforgettable customer and employee experiences.
Unpacking Employee Engagement
- Employee engagement misconceptions. Joey tackled common but mistaken beliefs about employee onboarding, emphasizing that the process extends far beyond the initial 30 days. He argued for a longer, intentional approach for truly integrating employees into a company's culture and operations.
- Creating remarkable experiences. Joey argued that engagement isn't just about following rules; it's about empowering employees to be decision-makers and thought leaders, thereby fostering an environment that nurtures remarkable experiences both for employees and for customers.
- The power of words. Drawing from personal anecdotes and a profound lesson learned from his mother, Joey highlighted the significant impact of words on shaping workplace culture and individual experiences. He encouraged leaders to use words intentionally, fostering an environment of truth, support, and empowerment.
Engaged Employees' Role in B2B Marketing
Joey linked employee engagement to B2B marketing, emphasizing the connection between engaged employees and successful marketing outcomes:
- Align employee engagement with brand messaging. Ensure that your employees are not just aware of your brand's message but functioning as integral parts of its narrative. Engaged employees can become your brand's most authentic advocates.
- Foster a culture of continual learning. Encourage your marketing team to embrace ongoing education and development, mirroring the continuous onboarding approach discussed by Joey. Doing so not only enhances their skills but also boosts their engagement and loyalty.
- Employ employee insights for authentic marketing. Engaged employees provide valuable insights into your company's operations and customer interactions. Harness those insights to craft more authentic and resonant marketing messages.
Three Steps Toward Employee Engagement
- Evaluate your onboarding process. Reflect on your onboarding approach. Is it designed to foster long-term engagement? Consider extending the process and incorporating elements that align with your brand's values and goals.
- Empower your team. Shift from fostering a rule-follower mentality to empowering your team to make decisions and contribute ideas. Empowerment can lead to innovative marketing and a more engaged team.
- Communicate intentionally. Take a leaf out of Joey's playbook to focus on the power of words. Ensure your communication with the team is clear, supportive, and aligned with your brand's values.
* * *
The Marketing Smarts Live Show episode with Joey Coleman offers a treasure trove of insights for B2B marketers seeking to enhance employee engagement.
Check out the video for more details, and the full podcast (link below the video) for the entire insightful conversation.
Don't miss future episodes: Subscribe to the Marketing Smarts Live Show on YouTube. And to catch up on all previous episodes, check out the full playlist on YouTube.
Episode Details, Guest Information, and Referenced Links
Episode No. 69
- Live date: February 19, 2024
- Episode link: youtube.com/watch?v=GBxBNoFirmQ
- Original podcast episode: Employee Engagement Strategies for Remarkable Experiences and Effective Onboarding: Joey Coleman on Marketing Smarts [Podcast]
Guest's social media profiles:
- Twitter: @thejoeycoleman
- LinkedIn: Joey Coleman
MarketingProfs resources referenced in the show:
- How to Gain Managerial Approval for Your Go-to-Market Strategy
- Marketing as a Service, or How to Improve B2B Marketing Impact
"In B2B News" article referenced in the show:
"From the #mpb2b Community" links referenced in the show:
Transcript: Employee Engagement Strategies for Remarkable Experiences and Effective Onboarding, With Joey Coleman
Hello to all my Marketing Smarts Live viewers today. I'm super excited to bring you another episode of the Marketing Smarts Live show.
This week's topic is all about Employee Engagement Strategies for Remarkable Experiences and Effective Onboarding.
So, if you're ready to get your learn on, buckle up, and let's get ready to rock and roll.
Hey, I'm your boy George B. Thomas, speaker, trainer, catalyst, and host of this here show, the Marketing Smarts Live show, as well as the Marketing Smarts podcast found on your favorite podcast app.
Our guest clips today are brought to you by none other than Joey Coleman.
Joey Coleman is an award-winning speaker who works with organizations around the world, ranging from small startups to major brands such as Volkswagen Australia, Zappos, and Whirlpool.
His First 100 Days methodology fuels the remarkable experiences his clients deliver and dramatically improves their profits.
His Wall Street Journal bestselling book Never Lose a Customer Again, offers strategies and tactics for turning one-time purchasers into lifelong customers.
His upcoming book, Never Lose an Employee Again, details a framework companies around the world can use to reduce turnover and increase employee engagement.
Now, remember the clips of Joey Coleman today are pulled from the full Marketing Smarts podcast episode, and if you want to listen to the full interview with Joey Coleman and myself, make sure to tune into the Marketing Smarts podcast, link to the full show will be in the description below after the live show ends.
Now, in this episode, again, I'm talking with Joey Coleman about Employee Engagement Strategies for Remarkable Experiences and Effective Onboarding.
In this clip, I wanted to ask Joey Coleman what myths he wanted to debunk around Employee Engagement Strategies!
Here's what he had to share
Joey: I feel like I need a season, not an episode of Mythbusters. I'd need a season to talk about all of them. So many choices to pick from. OK. Here's a myth that drives me insane. Most organizations think that somewhere between day eight and day thirty on the job that you should be all good, you should be up and running, you should understand how things are going, you should be producing, you should be able to function on your own.
That is not true at all. The person who thinks that, you didn't apply that same standard to your onboarding, growth and development and skillset acquisition. Yet you're applying that fictional ROI metric to the people that are joining your team. How long does it take you to feel comfortable in an entirely new situation? Some of the most resilient, most adaptive, most flexible humans I know don't truly feel comfortable until they're in month three, four, six, or twelve.
I used to practice law, I'm a recovering attorney. The first step is admitting you have a problem, there's 11 steps after that. Here's the thing. Five years into being a trial attorney, I finally felt like I was starting to understand a little bit about it how worked, five years later. I'm 50 years old. 20 years of running my own business, and I can list out the topics that I know I need to learn more about, and it's much longer than the list of topics that I think I've figured out. Your employees are the same way.
Onboarding is not measured by days on the calendar. It is measured by intentionality over the tenure of the relationship. What are you doing to continue to invite that person into the fold, to engage them, to get them enmeshed within your brand spirit, your offerings? Are you bringing in decision-makers or are you bringing in rule-followers?
So many companies think that the secret is go hire rule-followers. I'm sorry, friends. In 2023, if you are hiring rule-followers, great, you are approaching your business from an industrial revolution mindset that is beautiful if you're making widgets, running a factory, and competing on quantities and efficiencies. In this day and age, that's not what you're competing on. Hate to break it to you, you're not. The race on price is a race to the bottom. The race on quality is over. We expect high quality. If we're not getting high quality, why are we even having this conversation?
The race is built around experience. Are the interactions you're creating remarkable? If you want your people to create remarkable experiences for your customers, they better know what one is. The way they're going to know what one is, is by how they feel treated by you, their employer.
Is this what it is like at your organization?
Are you giving your employees the space to understand where they fit in and how to fit into your organization truly?
What do you do to get them entangled in your brand spirit?
Do you have rule followers in your organization or thought leaders who create remarkable experiences?
Heck, are you creating remarkable experiences for your customers?
Put the answer to that in the chat pane or let me know on Twitter using the hashtag #mpb2b and, of course, tag me using @georgebthomas.
We'll get back to Joey Coleman and his thoughts on Employee Engagement Strategies for Remarkable Experiences and Effective Onboarding, But first, I have to ask...
Are you part of the MarketingProfs community? If not, become part of the MarketingProfs community by heading over to mprofs.com/mptoday - That's mprofs.com/mptoday.
Now, it's time for one of my favorite sections...
In The B2B News - Where we talk about breaking B2B news or really important tips we find on the Google news tab related to you and your B2B business. This week, the title is...
B2B Leaders, Here's How To Capitalize On Experience-Led Growth
Despite building yearly growth plans that they believe to be achievable, many B2B organizations fall short.
Executives face the frustrating disconnect between ambition and execution, with teams entangled in competing priorities and internal resistance.
This "growth gap" often results from:
Building on quicksand. Chasing quick wins without understanding the journey to exceptional buyer and customer experiences, organizations stumble, miss goals, and require resources that they didn't foresee.
Chasing the wrong values. Disconnected teams chase individual metrics, delivering fragmented experiences instead of a unified, value-driven journey.
The illusion of collaboration. Rushing into planning without shared goals fosters a false sense of collaboration. Silos create plans in isolation, clashing in execution. This lack of strategic coherence fractures experiences.
Want to read more and learn - Why Experience-Fueled Growth Matters?
To read this article, check out the link below when the live show is over.
So, let's get back to Joey Coleman and his Marketing Smarts podcast episode.
In this clip, I wanted to ask Joey what are some great stories or great resources for people who wish to engage in this idea of Employee Engagement Strategies for Remarkable Experiences and Effective Onboarding.
Here is what he did that I feel was a great experience for you! The vault.
Take a listen.
Joey: A couple of things. Number one, when I was putting this book together and I'm talking to all of these amazing remarkable companies around the world, I realized that one book is not enough space. There are limitations, especially when you have a traditional publisher and they're like, "300 pages is about the max, nobody is going to sit and read 10,000 pages." But there were so many good stories and tools. So, here's what I did. I created something I've never done before called The Vault.
The Vault is where we keep ideas that matter. The Vault is where we keep valuables. The Vault is where we keep the things that will really move the dial. If you read the book, you get free access to The Vault. That's not a paid thing. You just sign up and you go to The Vault. In The Vault are videos, checklists, and templates.
One of the things we put together in The Vault, and it brings us back to the 4Rs that we talked about earlier, the requirements, the roles, the responsibilities, and the relationships. There's actually a little mini-survey in there that you can print out physically, hand to your team, and say, "Score yourself on this," and get an actual feedback in real time about whether you are delivering on the 4Rs. It's kind of like the 3Rs growing up, reading, writing, and arithmetic. These are the 4Rs of business. Are you delivering on those things?
There are videos in the tools, there are checklists, there are additional case studies that we couldn't fit in the book. I made myself a promise when I wrote the book, I would only tell one story per company. Here's something everybody listening knows. If you find an amazing company, they're good at more than one thing. Of course they are. They wouldn't be amazing and remarkable if they weren't. But I couldn't put all of it in the book, so you get the story behind the story.
My goal is for this book to be evergreen. This is not a book you read once. This is a book you read, you put it on your shelf, and you read it again in a year. Some of my most loyal readers from my first book Never Lose a Customer Again have shared with me that they've read the book five and six times, they read it every year. When we read a book, we're reading it from the perspective of our reality at that moment, the economy, our experience, our team, what we're dealing with. When we read it a year later, different things stand out. So, this is written to be evergreen and timeless so that it continues to be a resource to you going forward.
Are you ready to dive into the vault?
Are you ready to have a timeless resource at your fingertips?
Grab the book and get access to changing your business and your employee's experience.
We will get back to Joey Coleman in a few minutes, but first it's time for some...
Dope B2B Learnings From The Vault of MarketingProfs Articles
That's right, It's time to dig into the treasure trove of valuable information and pull out two pieces of gold to help you be a better B2B marketer.
Article one this week is: How to Gain Managerial Approval for Your Go-to-Market Strategy by Pam Didner
The term "go-to-market" (GTM) captures the essence of B2B marketing and sales all at once.
You have a product and you're ready to go. You work collectively with team members to bring that product to market. How exciting is that!
That's what B2B marketing is all about...
After working with many enterprise clients to collaboratively develop solid go-to-market plans, I've discovered that management buy-in is the most vital element of any GTM planning.
And management buy-in hinges on the quality and clarity of the GTM plan you put together.
Article two this week is: Marketing as a Service, or How to Improve B2B Marketing Impact by Domenic Colasante
When there are revenue headwinds and economic uncertainty, CFOs put a lot of attention on budgets and expenses. During tough times, reducing marketing headcount and media spend is a standard cost-cutting lever.
Meanwhile, B2B CMOs are given goals to generate growth for the business through more pipeline and revenue impact.
Clearly, those two approaches are in conflict with each other.
Modern CFOs, however, understand that crises sometimes present opportunities—that focusing on transformation instead of stark cost-cutting can lead to increased growth and operating efficiency.
The reality is that CFOs can recommend a lever for marketing that they've used for other disciplines: outsourcing—also with new service models, such as B2B marketing as a service
Want to keep learning more? If so, check the links in the description below after the live show to get access to both amazing MarketingProfs articles.
OK, back to Joey Coleman... Let's dive back into this conversation of Employee Engagement Strategies for Remarkable Experiences and Effective Onboarding
In this clip, I wanted to ask Joey, what does Employee Engagement Strategies for Remarkable Experiences and Effective Onboarding success look like?
I love his tips and thoughts!
Joey: For me, I think success needs to be defined by every individual, by every leader, by every organization. You have to have a clear understanding of what your definition of success is. Let's be candid. In this social media era, it's real easy to get sucked into someone else's success story. It's real easy to look on social media and see somebody vacationing in the Maldives and say that's success, or see somebody driving a Maybach and say that's success, or see somebody walking down the steps of a private jet, which by the way they rented for the photo shoot, but that's beside the point, and think flying private, that's success.
Success is how you define it. In the employer context, here's how I define success within my organization. I want my employees while they're with me to say, "This is the best place I've ever worked. I'm challenged, I'm supported, I'm encouraged, I'm listened to, I'm valued, and I have unexpected moments of surprise and delight in the experience that keep me coming back for more." I also want them to, when their time with me is done, to say, "One of the coolest places I ever worked was for Joey Coleman." If I've done that, I've actually made an impact on their life.
Most of us get into business, most entrepreneurs, most leaders get into business because we have an idea of how we're going to improve the marketplace. Our widget is going to be better. Our service is going to deliver more value. We sell that, we market it, we share that. That's great and it's important, but I know very few people who on their deathbed who say, "Gosh, one of the things I valued the most in this life was that widget I bought from that company 15 years ago," or, "One of the best things I ever had was that service contract that I signed up for an additional 12% of the overall fee to make sure I didn't have to worry about maintenance." They talk about the people.
If we are going to ask our employees to devote the bulk of their waking hours to us, we have a responsibility to make those hours remarkable.
Have you defined success for your organization?
Do you even think about it?
What do your employees talk about while they are working with you?
What do they say after they are long gone?
We're going to get some words of wisdom from Joey Coleman here in a few minutes, but right now, it's time to turn the spotlight on you, the MarketingProfs community. Yep, time for...
From The #MPB2B Community
We searched far and wide in the #MPB2B universe to find amazing information and conversation to bring to the masses.
So, first, make sure you are using the hashtag, and second, make sure you have fun and add value to the community.
Then, we'll spotlight you or your crew on the show. This week, it's...
MarketingProfs on LinkedIn, and oh my, is this one good!
It goes a little something like this…
Iron ChatGPT is back: New challenge. New secret ingredient!
In this round, our three chefs d'AI have to prompt ChatGPT to explain why our fictional company has done so well this quarter.
That's right: marketing attribution.
Can our contestants serve the perfect prompt on a silver platter?
Or will their attempt to attribute sales to marketing fall as flat as a pancake?
With bragging rights and charitable donations hanging in the balance…
Viewers around the world want to know:
Who's prompts will reign supreme?
?? https://lnkd.in/gRu_M8Xb
Find Iron ChatGPT Episode 1 at
https://lnkd.in/gmTUXpUS
Find Iron ChatGPT Episode 2 at
https://lnkd.in/gvze2pvi
#mpb2b #b2b #marketing #chatgpt #competition #ai
But you need to check out the description and click that link to check out the videos and watch and learn more!
Marketing Smarts viewer, are you going to be next to get the spotlight?
Remember, community, use the hashtag #mpb2b on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter and get the light shined on your awesomeness in the next episode or a future episode of the Marketing Smarts Live show!
Pro-tip: it won't hurt if you tag me in your post as well I'm @georgebthomas on LinkedIn and Twitter.
OK, let's kick it back to Joey Coleman and some words of wisdom around this topic of Employee Engagement Strategies for Remarkable Experiences and Effective Onboarding.
Here is what Joey Coleman wanted to leave us with...
Joey: I've been so fortunate to have so many mentors, so many leaders, so many role models, people that I've learned from, people that I've watched, people I've tried to emulate. It's an incredibly difficult question. What comes to mind is a variation on a theme of an answer that I imagine is an answer that wouldn't necessarily come up when asked about words of wisdom.
I'll tell a little story about my mom. My mom is an amazing woman. She grew up an Air Force brat, lived all over the world, never lived in any one place for more than about two years. Then she got married to my dad and proceeded to raise seven children. Yes, you heard that, seven children. She's a saint.
One of the things my mom has said for years, decades now, is if we knew the power of our words, we wouldn't speak.
I get paid to talk for a living, that's what I do, I'm a professional speaker. The words you say to your people, your teammates, your colleagues, your coworkers, your employees, your managers, your boss, your spouse, your significant other, your friends, your children, your parents, your siblings, the words matter. Be intentional with your words. Be specific with your words. Be careful with your words.
When your words come out in a way that you didn't intend, which welcome to being human, this happens to all of us, have the courage and the commitment to the people in your life to go to them and say, "That's not at all what I meant to say. That's not at all how I meant to say it. I apologize. I hope you'll forgive me. What I was trying to say was this," and then speak from your heart.
One of the things that both drives me crazy and gives me great hope in the world of B2B marketing is how little attention is paid to the words. We think about what words are going to help us convert, what words are going to help us sell more, instead of what words are truth. I don't know about you, but when somebody speaks truth, the world kind of goes quiet for a second, everything stops, it hits us in a different way. We don't just feel it in our ears, we feel it in our heart, we feel it in our gut. That can be about a personal topic or it can be a professional topic, it doesn't matter, truth is truth.
If we knew the power of our words, we wouldn't speak. But if you are going to speak, make sure you're choosing your words wisely.
Do you have mentors and role models?
I love that for Joey, it was his mother.
And man, do I love this story!
Do you know the power of your words?
Are you using them properly pertaining to your employees?
How about just in life?
Ladies and gentlemen, words matter!
Have you enjoyed today's journey? Let us know, use that hashtag #mpb2b on whatever platform you are joining us on.
