Thursday, July 8, 2010

Walgreen's Strategy Paying Off

In my last post, I noted that Walgreen's has embarked on the people-based strategy of training pharmacists to spend more time helping patients with chronic illnesses.

Building relationships with customers, to proactively drive customer engagement vs. delivering reactive customer service, leads to strong and sustainable growth, at least in my book (literally).

A strategy like this sounds good in the boardroom and looks good on paper, but means nothing if it doesn't drive results, right?

Early results are in, and they couldn't be better. Here's what The Wall Street Journal just reported this week:

"Walgreen Co. said June same-store sales rose 2 percent, a reversal from two straight months of decline, as discretionary sales in the front end of the store improved. Overall, sales jumped 8.4 percent, to $5.67 billion" for the company."

This is a sound example of how employees who are aligned with your brand can create real relationships with customers, based on shared values. By improving each "moment of impression" a customer has with a pharmacist--or any employee in the Walgreen's organization--the ripple effect spurs growth in the different products and services a brand offers.

I will keep you updated on AmEx and Comcast, two other companies I applauded in my last post for installing people-centric strategies for growth.