Bridging the Generational Gap with PokémonGo

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Different generations do things differently and bridging the generational gap can be a trick in itself. 2016 has experienced some major changes in how the different generations view each other. The year’s only half done.

We’ve witnessed a massive conflict generations in the United Kingdom with Brexit, in which the divide is pretty clearly split across the generational divide. The new (and successful!) Star Wars has allowed grandparents, parents and children to talk to each other about something other than changes in fashion, the price of bread, and ‘that horrible stuff you call music’.

And now there’s PokémonGo…

What is PokemonGo?

If you were a child anywhere after 1996, you’d have grown up with pokémon. There were cards to collect, video games to play, television series to keep track of, movies to watch and millions of dollars worth of merchandising that you just had to have. I myself still have the Pikachu stuffed animal that I insisted on having, and I’m pretty sure many of us still have the card decks we studiously collected, traded and won. Pokémon have been a Millennial obsession.

We now have competition for that obsession:

“Omg! The sweetest thing just happened! I was sitting here watching Netflix when all of a sudden I hear two cute little knocks at my front door. A boy and a girl, like 12. I asked what’s up? They said, “excuse me, sir, but there’s a pikachu in your backyard and my sister and I were wondering if we can go in and catch it?” I look down at these two young Pokémon trainers and see myself in the little boy. So I slam the door and run to the back yard. GUESS WHO HAS A PIKACHU…” [Source]

Which raises the question for the uninitiated: what in the name of all that is holy is PokémonGo?

First, we have to assume by this stage that you’ve been hiding under a rock the entire month, but we’ll forgive you and explain. Basically, it’s the latest outbreak of what’s been fondly referred to as ‘pokémania’ [source]. A free Android and iOS based game that involves using your phone to find and ‘catch’ pokémon in the real world.

Creating a Product that Closes the Generational Gap

When a new product or service is launched, marketers tend to target a specific demographic. We pick who, what, where, and why – it’s easier to track the impact this way and we can better guarantee positive outcomes.

Say we’re in charge of creating an advertisement campaign for the latest smartphone. We’ll be targeting the younger Millennial generation and Gen Zs, people who are ‘good’ at adapting to new technology and are eager to upgrade at every given opportunity. We might segment even further, maybe we’ll aim at the male population, specifically in western Europe and North America rather than Asia and Oceania. Every segmentation made will determine the style and design of the advertisement: what colours we’ll use, whether we use a voice-over – what type of voice we’ll use! – what message we really want to send. Why do we want you to buy this phone? Because it’s cool, and it’ll help you win the attention of gorgeous women like Scarlett Johansson.

How we market well we market the product will determine how many sales we make and that means knowing our target audience.

Now imagine we’re twenty years into the future when Gen Z is in full-swing and are baffled by the super-virtual-worlds of the Alpha Generation (assuming that’s what we’re going to call them! [source]). We come up with a brand new smartphone-equivalent that we Millennials find just as interesting and easy to get into as our Alpha grandkids.

Congratulations, we’ve successfully closed the generational gap and created an omni-generation product that sells to pretty much everyone on the planet. Nice work. Bonuses all around.

Entertainment values aside: This is what Star Wars: The Force Awakens accomplished. This is why everyone is talking about and playing PokémonGo.

What’s the big fuss?

The generational gap is often ignored because it can be incredibly difficult to bridge them. Why would you waste time, effort and money attempting to market to the entire world when you can narrow your target and generate better ROIs?

From a sales and marketing perspective both Star Wars and PokémonGo are powerful examples of the possibilities that are out there. Innovative ideas sprung out of ideas from the older generation can give rise to powerful opportunities to create better communication across the generational gap.

For those of us in business, understanding these innovations and really learning what makes them tick can give us deeper insight into our marketing and sales strategies.

And it never hurts to have a little fun on the side. Just remember, work first, pokémon later.

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The Value of an Engaged Employee: Why every company needs as many as they can get!

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An engaged employee will deliver a great customer experience. Why? Because they’re interested in what your company is all about.

Have you ever walked into a bookstore, looking for a particular book, only to be told ‘eh, I dunno, over there somewhere’ when you’ve asked where you can find it? Most of us have experienced something like this in our lives, whether in a supermarket or a hardware store. It’s always disappointing.

To illustrate the point, let me take you to a small town outside Melbourne, Australia. I used to run a cafe in the area and made a lot of use of the supermarket there, small, but serviceable. There was a whole host of different characters that worked at the store, and after a while, you knew which ones were the ‘good’ ones and which ones to avoid.

I was hunting for cinnamon one day, only to discover that their entire spice collection had disappeared over the course of the week. I asked one of the employees for help. He just shrugged, mumbled that he didn’t know, and went back to stacking the shelves. Result? I shrugged and went to the bigger Woolworths supermarket the next town over.

The following week, I was back in the same little supermarket for black poppy seeds. Of course, they didn’t have it. Frustrated, I found ‘Sam’, who I knew was one of the ‘good’ employees and asked him. Sam promptly apologized and told me he’d check out the back. No luck, he apologized, but he’d keep looking and would run them down to the cafe if he found any. I went back to work, figuring I’d not see poppy seeds this side of closing time.Engaged Employee... and cake!

Less than twenty minutes later, however, Sam came into the cafe with five packs of the things. Since the local supermarket didn’t have them, he’d run down to the big supermarket and got them for me. I was both impressed and pleased as punch – no need to change my muffin recipe after all! Sam recited the little supermarket’s motto to me cheekily: “Let’s deliver.”

Sam was an engaged employee, and while he may not have been a rocket scientist, he was a genuine person who actually gave a damn about his work. To him, it didn’t matter that they didn’t pay him much, or that he often had to fill late weekend shifts when he should really have been at home with his Playstation. Sam likes doing what he does: not stacking shelves and organizing fresh fruits and vegetables, perhaps, but helping people. He made an effort to learn your name, and how you were connected to the community. For Sam, life at the supermarket was straightforward: people need something, you supply it. What’s more, you supply it with a smile.

I won’t say that this redeemed the local supermarket in its entirety. There were too many useless people working in there to make it truly a great place to shop and one engaged employee offering a better customer experience did not outweigh most of the downsides… but for the sake of convenience, and – after this experience – for the sake of Sam, I would often take the plunge and do my best to ‘shop local’.

What is an ‘Engaged Employee’?

Creating an ‘engaged employee’ isn’t something that just happens. An employee can start out being engaged, enthusiastic and ‘part of the team’, but that can change. Similarly, employees can become engaged over time. Everything depends on circumstance, and how the company treats, trains and helps their team members. We touched on this a few months back during a discussion about the importance of HR policies. In that article, we brushed up on talent retention issues and how an evolving HR policy is vital to a company’s survival:

“People stay with companies they value. The more an employee is allowed and encouraged to engage in the job, team, and company efforts, the more she sees the value. People stay with managers they trust. The more managers and employees engage in continuous communication about expectation, the more trust develops in their relationship. People stay with companies that offer opportunities for personal, even professional growth.” —  5 Links Between Talent Management and Employee Engagement, TalentCulture

Employee engagement is about trust, communication, and value. A company wants its employees to value its…well, its values; an employee wants their company to value their efforts and time. An engaged employee will be the one who has reached that level of immersion with company policy and message: they believe in what the company stands for and what it’s selling, usually because it’s in line with what they themselves believe in.

Why is an engaged employee so valuable?

An engaged employee is an employee that trusts the company they’re working for and is enthusiastic about the brand they represent. This interest shines through in their work, and, as a result, in the way they treat clients and customers. What better way to get a customer to buy a product or service an employee eagerly admits they’ve used themselves?

For example, there’s an Australian real estate investment company that operates throughout Asia, Meridien Group, and one of their regular sales pitches includes the line: “This is a good investment. I know because I’ve bought one myself. My boss has bought six.”

The rapport that’s developed between the engaged employee and the company has now spilled over into the customer experience, into the relationship between the employee and the customer.

“Trust me,” an engaged employee can say, “because I trust this company and what it stands for.” That’s a type of enthusiasm no one can fake.

The Bottom Line?

Forget marketing budgets, massive social media advertising campaigns – forget all the prime time television slots you’re still buying. Build up your employees and they will do that for you. After all, if your employees don’t believe in what you’re selling, why on earth would your customers?

An engaged employee will go the extra mile, and not because you’ve asked them to, but because they want to.

An engaged employee will go the extra mile

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How the Evolution of Multicultural Workplaces has Changed Our View of Business

Multicultural workplaces have become a reality. The nature of the world is that cross-cultural barriers are coming down, allowing for multiculturalism to establish itself in the workplace. Several weeks ago, we discussed the impact of globalization on businesses and their customer service experiences, today we’re going to touch on how globalization has created multicultural workplaces and what that means with regards to employee and customer relations!

The Evolution of Multicultural Workplaces

Many companies now boast a global presence. This has lead to a rise in multicultural workplaces. In an age where most of us are celebrating diversity and cross-cultural communications, this is the face of the future. Just as it made sense for Victorian explorers to hire local guides to lead them through the heart of Africa, it made sense for businesses venturing out of their comfort zones to employee people with local knowledge.

That need has evolved.

With the growth of regional and global markets, diversification of industries and the growing availability of education, companies are able to hire people based on their merits rather than their place of birth.

There are still hurdles to be crossed, racial issues to be fought, and it’s certainly not paradise on earth yet. All judgments aside, humanity has come a long way from those Victorian explorers.

Go back thirty years – chances were most Western companies would send out ‘Season’s’ Greetings’ cards to their clients and employees around Christmas and New Year’s. Meanwhile Asian companies would do the same for Chinese New Year and Thaipusam, while the Middle East would celebrate Eid al-fitr. Different regions of the world had different festivities.

Now, with the growing diversity and awareness of that diversity, many companies realize they can’t just hold to ‘their’ primary holiday season.

The Internet’s Role in Multiculturalism

This is subject is an entire thesis all by itself. We’ve all accepted that the Internet has been a vital ingredient of globalization. It has brought down borders, opened communication lines, and connected people, regions, and countries – it’s also started social movements, and not always in a good way, but we’re not here to judge today.

In short, the Internet has given the world access to itself. People now have access to each other’s cultures in a way they never did before. It’s not just about the greater awareness of different cultures, but also because, thanks to the Internet, companies don’t necessarily only deal with clients, consultants, or other companies within the borders of their nation/region.

Similarly, customers on the hunt for something specific are no longer bound to use the business down the street. Ecommerce has seen to that – can’t find something? Try eBay.

It’s Not just about Employees

The increase of multicultural workplaces isn’t just about the people who work there. Take our office, for example – we’ve got more than 15 different nationalities across our 8 offices. That doesn’t just mean a diverse cultural awareness, but more than that, it grants us – and our clients and customers! – access to different languages as well! Across our offices, we have roughly 20 languages in house. This helps us overcome language barriers that previously would have made business difficult.

Clients and customers should be able to communicate with a company on their terms, in a way that avoids misunderstandings and miscommunication. This isn’t just about language. Multicultural workplaces have an increased awareness of different customs and traditions. In Thailand, public contact is discouraged, in the Middle East offering your left hand is offensive, while in many parts of South-East Asia pointing with your index finger is the equivalent of ‘giving someone the finger’ in North America. These little bits of knowledge add up to an ability to respect different cultures which put clients and customers at ease.

The Impact of Multiculturalism on Companies

This continued evolution has allowed for multicultural workplaces to spring up all around the world, in all manner of companies, in all manner of countries. Even small businesses operating solely within borders are becoming more and more exposed to the wide world and the many cultures in it.

Where globalization has driven companies to become more competitive, the growth of multicultural workplaces has allowed for an improvement in both customer and employee experiences the world over.

Yes, there are still issues on the table: not all workplaces are as welcoming of multiculturalism as others; but the undeniable fact is that the world is moving towards global multiculturalism, and it is likely that those companies who are going to survive are the ones who can best evolve along with these social transformations.

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Global Reach, Local Roots: How our quest for the world impacts our customer service promises

Global reach, local roots: yes, globalization is a thing. It’s been a thing for a while. It used to be a thing we just learned about in school. Then it turned into a real thing. Ten years ago, before cloud computing and integrated email systems, it wasn’t so easy to claim to be a ‘global’ company with ‘global reach’. The big conglomerates did it, of course, like Coca Cola, Google, Apple, Microsoft, but for the smaller fish, that wasn’t entirely achievable. We tried, of course – expanding into global markets is all part of the game.

What is Globalization?

First things first, what is globalization? A quick Google defines it as:

Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world. [Source]

Great. Now what does that actually mean? In a nutshell, globalization breaks down political, cultural, and economic barriers through the development of technology. Think Pony Express.

Before the invention of the telegraph, the best means of communicating along the length and breadth of the USA involved riding ponies between relay stations. At the time, it was the best way to communicate across the country.

Now, not being able to access information or communication instantly is too painful to contemplate. Before email, offices relied on faxes, “snail mail”, and, wait for it, memos.

(Would all Gen Z readers please stop laughing, those were hard times! Also, I’ve included useful links explaining these things in case you think I’m speaking in tongues.)

Now, of course, it’s no longer just email – we’ve got Skype, Slack, Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger – and a whole host of other tools that we use to instantly communicate around the world.

The improvement in technology has allowed companies – and individuals – to view the world in a whole new way. We are no longer stuck waiting for correspondence, or for data to be transferred; we can communicate with anyone, anywhere, pretty much at any time, and this has transformed the way we do business.

And Globalization affects Customers how…?

The simple answer is: while businesses have changed the way they do business, consumers have also changed the way in which they buy products and services. Never before has such a wide segment of the population had such easy access to information. We’re now able to compare and contrast products and services in a way we never could before.

We do our homework:

In the Middle Ages, things were different. If you wanted a table, you went to the carpenter’s guild; you needed new clothes, you’d go to the weavers. It was fairly straightforward and choices were limited, not only because we didn’t have the Internet to double check prices or check if there was another weaver/carpenter in a neighboring city we could go to – but simply because we didn’t have the option to travel to another city. When you needed something, you stuck to your own market place.

Thanks to globalization, markets have expanded and we can now access imported goods, or go onto eBay and get it direct from the source (more or less). The power has shifted from the seller to the buyer. Consumers now have the ability to research their needs and find the products/services that best feed their requirements and their capabilities.

This has resulted in a necessary shift in how we approach customer service.

It’s no longer about the sales pitch:

Smartphones - Increasing Global ReachBefore, it was about selling a product. We’d walk into a electronics shop looking for a new MP3 player (again, Gen Z, bear with me here), the salesperson would materialize and talk us into buying the player that they believed would best meet our requirements at whatever price was set. Now, if we’re going into a store to buy an MP3 player – i.e. the latest smartphone – we’ve usually got a better idea of we’re after.

We’ve been online to research the differences between the latest models between brands, we’ve debating the pros and cons of Android vs. Apple with our friends. We’ve checked out reviews to see what our peers think of the technology. We’ve done all of these things before we’ve gone into buy it – assuming we go anywhere, we might as well order it online right?

Customer service representatives have to adapt to these changes. They’re no longer necessarily facing their customers – they might be dealing with people using messengers, email, social media – and they’re no longer dealing with an uninformed crowd – these people know what they want and why they want it.

We know why we want something:

A few years ago – okay, nearly half a decade ago – I walked into a local electronics store in Canberra, Australia. I wanted a new Sony Vaio laptop. I knew all the specs that I wanted. The salesman tried to talk me out of buying it but I’d done my homework and I knew what I wanted. The fact that the salesman was trying to talk me out of my decision simply because “I’d be paying a lot for a fashion accessory” (I know, I know… let’s just leave that can of worms unopened, okay?). When I told him why I wanted it I got a blank look. In his defense, I was wearing pink, had just straightened my hair, and I didn’t look anything like the gaming, computer-savvy female that I actually am.

Point being: not only do we now know what we want, we really know what we want and customer service reps have to recognize that most of us now walk into a store armed with that knowledge. A customer who walks into a shop is already 60% sure of what they’re going to buy and how much they’re going to spend on it. [Source]

Has Globalization destroyed the Customer Service Experience?

No.
Has it transformed it? Most definitely. The most successful companies in this modern age will be those that recognise the changes in consumer behavior and adapt accordingly. Instead of flooding the floor with salespeople, they may choose to set up online sales systems and delivery services. Consumers are more likely to engage online than physically come into a store to ask for information, and as a result companies now have websites, increasing number of social media accounts, and live chat options to field complaints and comments.

We are currently witnessing an evolution of the customer service experience. This evolution will integrate more technology, more 24 hour communication options, and a different approach altogether for the traditional customer service representative.customer service desk international

Is that it?

There are also problems with becoming a global company – customer service can suffer if you’re not prepared to take on the whole hog at once. If you’re going to take on the world, then you’re taking on the world, not just a small part of the world. The Internet has made that impossible – short of some censorship issues in certain areas of the world, all information is now accessible the world over. We can no longer count on the fact that a negative review in Australia will not be seen in the USA.

The world is a smaller place, and that’s both a good thing and a potential downfall.

Global Reach is great…what next?

I guess we’ll see. At AQ, we’ve learned that change is important to survival: if you’re not adapting you’re going to fall over. Yes, we’ve got a global presence with offices all over the world – this gives us intimate access into those markets – but we’re also aware that a global presence is only part of what it means to be a successful global company. Similarly, we recognize that the world is a great place, all in all, but you can’t forget your roots either – focusing only on a global approach is just as important as maintaining local markets and connections. Global reach, local roots.

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Throw a Party: Celebrate Company Milestones

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AQ turns 15 this year.

That made us think. A lot. About where we started, where we’re headed, and how best to celebrate company milestones.

When you’re little, birthday parties are the best thing in the world. I was always convinced that I’d get a pony for my tenth birthday, my thinking was that I’d obviously be ‘growed up’ enough by then to harness that sort of responsibility .

Then, of course, you realize that 10 isn’t really that big a deal and it’s really your thirteenth birthday you should be looking out for. That’s when life really starts.

Companies go through this too. A business needs to learn how to crawl, then walk, and finally to run with its competitors. There are moments of great joy, absolute panic, disillusionment, and massive pride – sometimes all at once.

A young company dreams too – not of ponies perhaps, but of industry domination, great piles of money, many awards, that sort of thing. The difference being here, that a company can actually do something with all those things, whereas a 10-year-old would likely get bored with a pony and all the work involved with keeping one. Give a 10-year-old a goldfish or a guinea pig; much safer.

If they’re lucky and smart, companies eventually reach a point where they’re wearing their big-boy (or girl) pants, and the playground rules have changed. They’re no longer just growing for their own sake but in order to stay ahead of the rest of the field.

We might think that once we reach that point in time we’re set for life, but that’s not really true is it? The Roman Empire’s collapse really only started when it stopped expanding…

“In this world, if you’re not growing, you’re dying so get in motion and grow.” – Lou Holtz

Sustainable growth is a great thing, though difficult to achieve. Several statistics – such as those in this article – suggest that the average lifespan of companies has dropped below 20 years, this means that any milestone is now a cause for celebration!

Anniversaries, like birthdays (and dreams of ponies), remind everyone what they’ve worked for and what they’ve achieved. It’s important to take a moment and look back on where the company’s come from, and where it’s going next.

It’s also a good reason to have a party, pat ourselves on the back and acknowledge that we’ve done good. Nods all around. And drinks, confetti, cake.

We’ll be having some of that here actually.

This month marks the point in time where, 15 years ago, Jan-Willem Smulders and his business partner founded AQ Services International. Graduates of The Hague’s Hotelschool, these two men set this company on a path that has lead right here. We’ve learned to crawl, walk and run; we’ve taken some tumbles and got right back into the saddle.

And guess what? We’re still here.

This in no small way due to our hardworking team across all our offices. AQ has grown from an idea to a full-fledged company that can hold its head up high and say:

“We’re here and we still believe in what we’re doing. We’re going to keep making it happen. Here’s to another 15 years.”

Here’s to our clients, our secret shopper, our people: thank you for the last 15 years. Let’s create more magic in the many years to come, and let’s let people experience great service.

Here's to you, AQ

Have a pony party, you all deserve one.

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