One day, on a routine delivery, he wished me a happy anniversary. Surprised, I looked at him and asked him how on earth he remembered that. You see, this small detail he learned several years ago, during a brief interaction at one of my previous jobs. Even years later Eddie still remembered, to the day, my wedding anniversary.
Eddie chuckled, “I always remember it, because it is also my daughter’s birthday.”
Most people would say to themselves, ‘What delivery driver remembers a client’s anniversary?’ Eddie did. That personal attention to detail makes all the difference in the world for building strong customer relationships.
A delivery driver may seem to be an unlikely brand ambassador, but whether Eddie realized it or not, he was a great brand ambassador. He was in the position of positively, or negatively, impacting a client’s experience with the company he worked for. Too often, companies and branding plans ignore the most vital people within an organization—the employees.
Organizations have the opportunity to harness the power of brand ambassadors like Eddie, but sometimes we need to look in unlikely places, or reassess what is in front of us. The truth is, every employee is a brand ambassador. Whether we engage those employees in the process is a different story. A step in the right direction is to communicate new initiatives or products to employees first; provide them with the information and the reason to be that brand ambassador for your organization. Help employees tell your story, and recognize them when they do.