People strategy? What? Seriously? Believe it or not, there is one thing in business that is under-utilized, not generally top-of-mind and desperately needing attention in all industries. We’re all in the people business.

1. and watch your business grow
Get to work on your
People strategy
People strategy? What? Seriously?
Scott MacFarland | April 2019
Believe it or not, there is one thing in business
that is under-utilized, not generally top-of-mind
and desperately needing attention in all industries.
We’re all in the people business.

2. First of all, let’s get straight to the point,
businesses sell to people, and businesses
are operated by people (B2B or B2C,
H2H… it doesn’t matter). If we fail to
establish relationships and trust with
those people most important to us and
also fail to connect and communicate
effectively with those people, we fail to
operate smoothly (internally and
externally), fail to sell, fail to grow, and
fail to work well together and excel –
Basically, we fail to perform to our
highest level.
“CUSTOMERS WILL NEVER LOVE
A COMPANY UNTIL THE
EMPLOYEES LOVE IT FIRST.”
Business isn’t only about
attracting new customers. It’s
also about employees, which
some believe to be the most
valuable asset in a company.
Without employees, many
businesses simply will cease to
exist. So, take a good hard look
at both your customer people
strategy and your employee
people strategy. Chances are,
one of these is not clicking on
all cylinders and is causing your
business to underperform.
According to an article published by Forbes.com, Four Reasons Employees
Underperform (And What To Do About It), reaching optimum performance
in your company starts with clear communication.
People and performance
go together. When people
strategies are clicking
on all cylinders,
performance happens
at all levels.
– Simon Sinek
What is a People
Strategy?
1

3. I was able to catch-up with a personal friend Ray Theberge, Senior Vice President
at Colonial Systems. Ray is the person who stimulated the idea for me to start
researching and writing this ebook while we were enjoying a Red Sox Spring
Training game in Florida. So, I figured he deserved to be one of the featured
guests.
Here’s what Ray had to say about the all-important people strategy. If you ever
get the privilidge of meeting Ray, you will soon discover his ability to connect
and communicate with people is unsurpassed.
Whether you are in sales, marketing, or operations, you want your customers
(existing and new) to view working with you as more than just a transaction.
Strictly transactional, or commodity sales are not long- term sales.
To ensure the long-term viability of your business, you need to look at
each customer as a friend that you care about. Take their best interest
at heart, and they will do the same for your business.
People want to buy from people, specifically, they want to buy from
people they like. But even more importantly, they are motivated to
buy from people that make them feel good about buying from them.
"You can’t expect
anything from your
customer (such as
loyalty, appreciation,
respect, etc.)
that you haven’t
already given to them."
-Ray Theberge
Customers
Senior Vice President
Colonial Systems
Ray Theberge

4. True Value
of People
of consumers with an emotional
connection to a brand recommend
that same brand to others.
71%
more will be spent by customers that
continue to support your brand over
time in comparison to new customers.
67%
Employees who feel their voice is
heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel
empowered to perform their best work.
4.6X
3
4
5

5. Okay, let’s take Ray’s comments from
page 3 a step further. Ask yourself
this question. Would you pay more
because your “customer experience”
during the purchase process was
exceptional? In other words… your
personal experience (online, in-store
or in-person) made you feel so good,
it stopped you in your tracks and you
had warm-fuzzies, like, “wow, that
was amazing, I'm totally blown-
away with the way this company
handles customers."
“PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHAT YOU SAID. PEOPLE WILL
FORGET WHAT YOU DID. BUT PEOPLE WILL NEVER FORGET
HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.”
As for me, when I feel great about a
brand, how they interact with me
and how they made me feel, it
makes me want to purchase from
them again and again. When a
consumers' emotions take over,
that is one secret to ensuring they
purchase the first time as well as
over and over again - That works
for all of us.
– Maya Angelou, Writer.
Customer
Experience
of buyers will pay
more for a better
brand experience,
but only 1% feel
that vendors
consistently meet
expectations.
88%
6
Triggering emotions plays an
essential role in attracting people
to buy and keeping them as a
long-term customer.

6. Customer
Experience
of B2B CMOs
report customer
experiences to
be very
important.
86% of consumers
indicated they are
more likely to do
business with a
company if
it offers
personalized
experiences.
80%
of customers
that receive
unfriendly service
take their
business
elsewhere.
60%
of all data
analytics projects
will relate to
an aspect
of customer
experience by
2020.
40%
If you're still not convinced your
customer experience is important,
you may want read on. The stats
below may help you see why your
people strategy and customer
experiences are linked and
important for business success.
7
9
10
8

7. Customer Retention should also
be part of your People Strategy.
So let’s shift gears and talk about
your people strategy as it relates
to keeping your customers coming
back.
Businesses spend an enormous
amount of time and money trying to
capture the customer. Many times,
once they are aboard, they are lost
in the shuffle and forgotten. How
does this affect ROI?
Additionally, research suggests it
can cost up to five times more to
acquire a new customer than to
keep your current ones. Wow, is
this an endeavor and expense you
want to be responsible for in your
business unit? Hmm, I think not.
Customer
Rentention
of companies agree
that retention is
cheaper to execute
than acquisition.
82%
of your future
profits will come
from just 20
percent of your
existing customers.
80% 5.1
Consumers with an
emotional connection
to a brand stay with
them for an average
of 5.1 years.
11
12 13
“Customer retention is a two-way
street. Find a way to see the
business model from their
viewpoint, from behind their
“steering wheel”, not yours."
"What are you doing to pave the
way for customers to be drawn to
you? Start by figuring out the
various pathways that your
customers currently take to get
to you, and line those pathways
with personalized, humanized,
experiences that speak to
the customers’ needs
and communicate
to them that they are valued."
-Ray Theberge, Colonial Systems

8. “PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MAKE
THEM FEEL. FOCUS YOUR SALES EFFORTS ON
MAKING THEM FEEL LISTENED TO AS IF THEY
WERE YOUR MOST IMPORTANT CUSTOMER,
AND THEY WILL BECOME THAT CUSTOMER.”
– Ray Theberge

9. Our goals as organizations should
be to identify those people groups and
define them as clearly as
possible – then start using the tools
and resources at your fingertips to
connect and communicate with
them. You will marvel at how just a
few adjustments can make a huge
difference.
Why connecting and communicating with your
employees is critically important for businesses to
be healthy and also to achieve optimum growth.
Connecting and
Communicating
But don’t forget, developing a people
strategy and connecting to them doesn’t
just mean your goal should only be to
increase sales. That’s good, you want
that, but this strategy can also be used
to connect and communicate more
effectively within your own team in your
company – regardless if they are half-way
across the world, across the state
or across the hallway.
employees
Insights from
John Olson
Chief Operating Officer
MDG Advertising

10. Staying connected through constant communication with your
employees is critical in your business for many reasons.
As a team leader in a service business, it is very important to have
a good sense of how well our clients are being served, and to get
ahead of any potential issues internally, or externally.
I rely on brief daily check-in's to get updates not only on the
accounts, but also on the individual employees as well. It is just as
important to understand how your team members are doing and
feeling as it is to understand what is happening with each account.
At MDG, the process for how we do this is based on our
core principals of constantly listening, creating, and improving.
Connecting and
Communicating
with employees
"We try to be very
aware of how fulfilled
our employees are in
their work and we
strive continuously
show opportunity and
potential for growth."
-John Olson,
MDG Advertising
Chief Operating Officer
MDG Advertising
John Olson
21%
Highly engaged
teams show
21% greater
profitability.13a

11. Your customer experience stinks - here's why.
As you have already seen, research shows that the customer experience is
paramount if you want to attract, convert, close and keep your customers. So what
next? Here are 12 of the most common mis-steps marketers/brands make because
they are not thinking about the customer experience holistically, but granularly.
My suggestion is to look at your entire ecosystem (online and offline) to see where
the inconsistencies and breakdowns are.
1. Customer path
2. Forms & Landing page structure and layout
3. Content Marketing
4. Navigation
5. Mobile first website
6. Site speed
7. Exit pages
8. Message match from paid media to landing pages
9. Search results not helpful / site not searchable
10. Thank you pages
11. Time on pages that is very low in comparison to others
12. Understanding what your customer wants and why. This is last in the list not
because it’s least important. If I put it first you would gloss over it and move
on. This just might be the most important part of your customer experience.
Tools and
Resources
of customers are
retained when
companies have a
strong omni-channel
customer engagement
strategy.
89%
of customers either
leave or go to a
competitor because
of website issues.
56%
14
15

12. Sometimes your people strategy is not what you think it is.
Take a look at these 3 tools that just may accelerate your strategy
and also your business goals.
Here are a few tools to use so you can start defining and connecting. Remember,
get to know your people groups and their characteristics. This provides benefits in
countless ways, more than just in sales and marketing. Remember that old adage
“work smarter, not harder?”– these tools adapt to that phrase perfectly.
LinkedIn Showcase Pages:
Yeah, I know, we’ve all heard for years that LinkedIn is a valuable tool for connecting
and communicating with other professionals. Did you know it’s even better than
ever? LinkedIn has what’s called Showcase Pages.
This feature enables you to create a specific page for different areas of your business
and they can have their own personalized messages and even audience segments.
Instead of one big connection pool getting everything, you can segment your
content – now that’s truly connecting with people the way they want.
Tools and
Resources
16

13. Crystal:
This is a tool I could talk all day long about and never get
uninterested. Crystal is a very special Ai tool/resource that
provides insights about an individual’s behavior, likes and dislikes,
communication preferences, DISC analysis and what that means when talking
to them. It even has a remediation tool that tells you what to say, how to say it,
what cadence to use while speaking (slow or fast), and what words to use to
the other person you are trying to engage at a deeper level.
Crystal is creepy awesome for those of us who like data and are always
looking for better ways to get the upper hand. It’s great for sales, marketing,
human resources, fundraising, start-ups, investors, even Individuals looking
for jobs… this is a goldmine. It’s available online or you can use it as a plug-in
with LinkedIn. I happen to like the LinkedIn version myself.
Tools and
Resources
17

14. SnapCell:
I am almost certain you have
not heard of this company yet.
SnapCell is a relatively new
concept that launched a very
useful sales communication
video engagement-connection
tool that is activated as a
smartphone app and is delivered
via text or email. I’ve seen it in
action and it cuts through all the
clutter while creating
differentiation between your
sales team and the competition.
Zoom:
There are many video
conferencing solutions like
Zoom out there, but is there a
video conference tool better
than this? Zoom helps you get
things done and cleans-up your
fragmented communications
and apps even when you have
multiple teams, locations,
content to be shared, you
name it. When communication
becomes this easy, you do
more of it and do it better.
What better way to engage in and also succeed
in your people strategy than to communicate
with a tool that lets you see, hear and
communicate on-the-move wherever you or
your team are located. Oh, I did fail to mention,
this is so easy your 4-year old could use it?
Tools and
Resources
18
19

15. and watch your business grow
Get to work on your
People strategy
Regardless of the industry, you work in every day… fashion, real estate,
education, retail, software, automotive, luxury goods, pharma, biotech, you
name it, if you’ve come to the conclusion that all businesses (including yours)
can’t thrive without a people strategy -- you’re correct.
Congratulations, that’s the start of truly understanding
the value of the people that make your business thrive!
About the author: Scott MacFarland is a lifelong marketer with a passion for
smart business, content, marketing, digital, analytics, and all things that lead
to successful conversions. Scott is currently the Director of Marketing for HMY
Yachts in Jupiter, Florida.
Follow Scott on YourBrandExposed, LinkedIn or Twitter

16. Sources and Photo Credits:
Cover-
Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels
https://www.pexels.com/photo/achievement-adult-agreement-arms-
1153213/
Page 2-
Photo by bruce mars from Pexels
https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-man-holding-a-book-
927022/
1. Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/04/10/fo
ur-reasons-employees-underperform-and-what-to-do-about-
it/#22c9a39d1a0c
Page 3-
Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels
https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-shaking-hands-with-woman-
1081228/
www.colonialsystems.com
Page 4-
3. https://blog.accessdevelopment.com/2018-customer-loyalty-
statistics
4. edelman
https://www.edelman.ca/sites/default/files/2018-02/2018-Edelman-
Trust-Barometer-Canada_ENGLISH.PDF
5. Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nazbeheshti/2019/01/16/10-timely-
statistics-about-the-connection-between-employee-engagement-
and-wellness/#75d5166422a0
Page 5-
6. USA Today
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/11/02/starbucks-
customers-spending-more/1851773002/
Photo by: Christina Morillo
https://www.pexels.com/photo/two-women-in-front-of-dry-erase-
board-1181533/
Page 6-
7. Accenture
https://www.accenture.com/gb-en/insight-hyper-relevance-gcpr
8. Epsilon
https://www.slideshare.net/EpsilonMktg/the-power-of-me-the-
impact-of-personalization-on-marketing-performance/1
9. PWC
https://press.pwc.com/News-releases/companies-have-lost-the-
human-touch-in-customer-experience/s/c89725e4-7b3f-4535-a70f-
8f834be0a5f5
10. Gartner
https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/applications-us
Photo by: Christina Morillo
https://www.pexels.com/photo/two-women-in-front-of-dry-erase-
board-1181533/
Page 7-
11. eConsultancy
https://econsultancy.com/15-fascinating-insights-from-econsultancy-s-
2014-reports/
12. SmallBizTrends
https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/01/linkedin-tools-for-business.html
13. PRNewswire
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-retail-study-shows-
marketers-under-leverage-emotional-connection-300720049.html
Page 8-
Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels
https://www.pexels.com/photo/group-of-people-in-a-discussion-
1483907/
Page 9-
Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels
https://www.pexels.com/photo/flat-view-photography-of-four-persons-
sitting-facing-laptop-on-desk-1451447/
Page 10-
13a. Gallup
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236366/right-culture-not-employee-
satisfaction.aspx
https://www.mdgadvertising.com
Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels
https://www.pexels.com/photo/red-and-three-blue-jigsaw-puzzles-
1246743/
Page 11-
14./15. Superoffice
https://www.superoffice.com/blog/customer-experience-statistics/
Photo by Pixabay from Pexels
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266176/
Page 12-Business/LinkedIn
16. https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/linkedin-
pages/showcase-pages
Page 13-
17. Crystal
https://www.crystalknows.com
Page 14-
18. SnapCell
https://snapcell.us.com
19. Zoom
https://www.zoom.us/?
zcid=1173&creative=85176081601&keyword=zoom&matchtype=e&net
work=g&device=c&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIn5i0gIv-
4AIV0bjACh2xGgSrEAAYASAAEgIdD_D_BwE
Page 15-
Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels
https://www.pexels.com/photo/group-of-people-holding-message-
boards-1059116/
Many thanks to my good friend Ray Theberge who inspired me
to research and write this eBook. His amazing ability to integrate
and nurture people strategies in personal and professional
environments are a gift I have never seen before. Ray and his
family have blessed my family with his love of life, people, and
desire to teach and nurture others while providing life
experiences beyond compare . Thank you Ray.Authored by: Scott MacFarland | April 2019
Design tool: Canva
Photo Credits: CC0 License