SALT LAKE CITY - May 13, 2008 - Business leaders gathered to hear from experts, share best practices and learn how to capitalize on engagement at the Allegiance Engage Summit 2008 on May 7 - 9, 2008. Allegiance provides Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM) technology and services that give companies the ability to fully engage their customers and employees and use predictive technology to increase loyalty and grow faster.
"Typically, businesses compete in the traditional battlegrounds of price, service and quality. However, engagement presents a new way for companies to surpass their competition," said Adam Edmunds, CEO of Allegiance. "Engagement, which involves making an emotional connection with employees and customers, can provide a competitive edge that can make the difference in a company's success or failure."
Presentations from keynote speakers echoed the theme of engaging with employees and customers as a way to survive and thrive in a weakening economy.
Bob Thompson of CustomerThink Corp. cautioned companies to avoid being the "date from hell' in customer relationships, always talking about themselves and not listening to customers. Thompson presented research that showed that positive customer experiences and engagement drive loyalty and growth.
Dr. Gary Rhoads and Dr. David Whitlark of Brigham Young University pointed out that companies waste money on customer loyalty programs if they don't match the actual service delivered by employees. They presented data to demonstrate how measurement of employee loyalty and engagement can act as a leading indicator and predictor of customer loyalty and engagement.
Bob Caruso of JD Power and Associates stated that the secret ingredient to customer satisfaction is people. The customer experience is linked to the employee experience, and leadership plays a critical role in driving customer engagement. He also presented studies that show that companies who focused on increasing customer satisfaction significantly increased shareholder value.
Companies attending the Allegiance Engage Summit included leaders in financial services, healthcare, retail and manufacturing.
"At Venture Bank, our engagement initiatives are paying off. We carefully measure our progress and make adjustments to increase customer and employee engagement. Events like the Engage Summit have helped me to see what others are doing to successfully increase engagement," said Melanie Bakala, vice president of sales development for Venture Bank of Washington.