Do your employees know what makes your company radically different from all of your competitors? Do they understand the specific critical role they play in creating customer experiences that are so unique customers can't stop talking about them? Do they know how to talk about your company's products and services in the most powerful way? Is your front line ENGAGED?

If you want your customers to understand how great your company, your brand, your products and services are, your front line must be engaged with customers. What do I mean by customer engagement? I mean that every employee must understand what makes you different from your competitors, and they must know how to talk about that difference in a powerful way. They must know what words to use, what stories to tell and how to tell them. They must know how to engage customers both mentally and physically to get your customers involved in understanding how you are radically different from your competitors, why they should buy your products and services and most importantly, why they should stay loyal for life.

Why aren't your employees doing this already? Haven't you TOLD them all these things? Haven't you PUBLISHED all these ideas and examples in the company newsletter? Haven't they HEARD all the speeches at the annual meetings? Haven't they all been through TRAINING?

Of course! But, have you ENGAGED them? Have you asked for their ideas about what should be done to respond to the rapidly shifting marketplace? Have you forced them to confront your competitors' strengths and design a strategy for obliterating them? Have you asked them to reinvent their own personal role in engaging customers in radically different ways to get radically different results?

Read the entire article: “Is Your Front Line Engaged in the Battle for Customers?" by Rick Barrera