The employee effect

The thought of writing a blog on the employee effect was hovering on my head since the visit to an electronic shop a few days back. To make sure that the best deal is struck, visits to few of the electronic shops were obvious. With the intention of buying one of the two brands of a particular product, everything else seemed so inferior and out of place. But the last visit was a surprise; the intention, the product and even the brand changed. Courtesy, the salesman.

This is where a brand is recognised. In course content, people talk of touch points. Touch points are all the points of interface that comes between a customer and the product/service (at various delivery channels). From a salesman to a mangaer to an advertsiement or commercial, anything that gets one closer to the desire of acquiring a brand makes a touch point. Customers come across these touch points for products as well as services. Moreover the experience is prolonged for a service.

Employees make the best touch point for any customer. It is the employee who can make an organisation grow, with his efforts and knowledge that make him the manager of his job. As an employee one is expected to represent the organisation in the best possible manner and that represenation comes with knowledge about the products and services his organisation offers. They hold the responsibilty of living the experience that the organisation aims at, giving to its consumers.

When employees are knowledgeble and satisfied about what they do and know, the same is carried in the firms' values as a brand. Thus, when we say that brands are an intagible asset of a firm, then it is a false statement, because the best brands' tangibility lies in its employees who take pride and are passionate in making the product or service a brand.