gkv communications, a Baltimore-based marketing firm with more than 80 employees, wants to be sure customers are getting the service they deserve. The recent launch of their new six-employee subsidiary, called Tribe Culture, focuses on uniting a company?s external branding campaign with their internal employee structure.
“Basically, Tribe Culture is about aligning customer service and branding and external communication,” Tribe Culture president Dan Collins said.
“We?re focusing on culture but most specifically within the customer service area.”
The subsidiary follows a four-step process for helping companies improve customer service which involves getting to know the company from the top executives to the behind-the-scenes professionals and working with the best performers to create a training program. “We try to understand what it is they do so well in what we call ?moments of truth,?” Collins said. “Rather than describe how they act, we look at how they have found a way to act. We take the situations that are most common and create a training program. We also look at [the company?s] recruiting practices, performance evaluations, to make sure that branded behavior is embedded in the job performance and that the company is surrounding the employee with all the right messages about how they should perform.”
“Having worked in the advertising business, because of technology and competition, businesses are becoming less differentiated by price and product and much more differentiated by environment and service,” Tribe Culture spokesman Jeff Millman said. “For example, Target?s prices and products are really no different than anyone else?s, but you get a different experience in there. That?s what Tribe Culture is really about.”
There is no definitive marketing plan in place for Tribe Culture, which the company attributes to the hands-on, in-depth nature of the program.
However, Tribe is currently seeking out companies who have scored low in the customer service category according to Market Metrics, one of the leading market research firms in the U.S.
“It?s very easy to see who?s good and who?s not good,” Millman said. “We?ll look at businesses where it is very obvious they aren?t delivering the process.”
Contact the Agency
» gkv communications
» 1030 Hull St., Suite 400, Baltimore
» 410-234-2531; gkv.com;
tribeculture.com
