How marketing and HR can work together to increase sales

Over nearly two decades in the branding industry, I’ve seen way too many highly imaginative marketing departments and ad agencies give it their all to develop and launch impactful sales campaigns, only to see them fall flat in terms of results. Many of those campaigns brought customers through the door as intended, but the increased traffic didn’t convert to the kind of sales that the organization had hoped for. Why? Because after walking through the door, those customers received subpar service from employees and walked straight back out, refusing to spend money with a brand that doesn’t value its customers. What many marketers seem to forget is that even the most creative, imaginative, or strategic advertising, marketing, or communications campaign can be completely derailed by disengaged employees delivering poor or mediocre service. As I tell my senior leadership clients and the audiences at the conferences where I speak, it is unreasonable to expect disgruntled, disillusioned, or otherwise disengaged employees to deliver the type of customer experience that will convert casual consumers into raving—and paying—fans of the brand. As the saying goes, your customer experience wil…