Cambridge Business Association
Light Their Fire
Book

Light Their Fire

Using Internal Marketing to Ignite Employee Performance and Wow Your Customers

Susan M. Drake, Michelle J. Gulman and Sara M. Roberts
Kaplan Publishing, 2005
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

This basic manual teaches you how to encourage your employees to buy into your business strategy and brand before you begin selling to real-world customers. Internal marketing programs should be part of every company's operations. Authors Susan M. Drake, Michelle J. Gulman and Sara M. Roberts show that motivated, energetic employees are important assets; they can expand your business exponentially. Simply by fulfilling basic human desires for recognition, advancement, esteem and education, you can build tremendous employee loyalty. Written in a light, breezy style, which occasionally might have benefited from more detail, this book provides examples of companies that have instituted exceptional programs. getAbstract.com strongly recommends it to executives, small business owners, and human resource and department managers looking for strategies to energize their companies by using their most valuable resource: their people.

Summary

All Together Now

To impress your customers, first you must impress your employees. Employees who understand the business, know where it is headed and have adult responsibilities make a positive impression on customers. Companies that rate among the best to work for in the U.S., such as FedEx, First Horizon National, Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites, have well-informed work forces.

The members of these corporate management teams have developed and institutionalized internal marketing and communication programs that encourage and train employees. Motivated workers perform their jobs with energy and creativity. To get your people excited, focus on the "four E's:" "energizing, enabling and empowering your team members, and ensuring that they achieve objectives and are recognized and rewarded for their accomplishments."

You can instill these characteristics in your employees two ways:

  1. As part of a continuous process of communications and employee recognition that fosters a self-refreshing corporate culture.
  2. As a goal-oriented program with specific initiatives.

Executives at Homewood Suites by Hilton...

About the Authors

Susan M. Drake is the founder and president of Spellbinders, Inc., an internal marketing and communications consultancy. She has written six other books, including Bottom Line Personnel and Personal Excellence. Michelle J. Gulman is a consultant who specializes in change management and internal marketing. Sara M. Roberts is the founder and president of Roberts Golden, a San Francisco consultancy that specializes in change management and internal marketing.

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