How Smart Retailers Leverage Talent for Profitability

September 23, 2009

It’s not surprising that a computer company would use on-line approaches to engage talent and customers with each other. At Dell, there have been over two billion conversations to date; clearly this has developed the power of listening throughout the company. Michael Dell stated “These conversations are going to occur whether you like it or not. Do you want to be part of that or not? My argument is you absolutely do. You can be a better company by listening and being involved in that conversation.”

Though Dell is a large company, many of the approaches described by Eric Paul can be used by medium-sized organizations as well. For example:

• Ideastorm and Employeestorm connect with customers’ ideas and wants. Over 12,000 ideas generated in those communities resulted in 350 ideas being implemented at Dell.
• In Twitter, talent can discuss what’s available in outlets; Dell has sold more than $3M in merchandise using @DellOutlet, which ranks in the top 1000 Twitter accounts, with over 700,000 followers.
• Yammer is Dell’s internal version of Twitter.
• Facebook and LinkedIn provide additional social networking.
• Mentor Connect allows people to select an individual they would like to mentor.
• Dell Lounge connects customers with a digital on-line life with Dell talent, which results in critical sales.
• Gen Next, The Power of New helps promote understanding about generational work habits and preferences.

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