Fishburn Hedges

06.07.2011

In the first episode of the new series of ‘Undercover Boss’ last night, Ann Summers decided it would be too risky to send its well-known CEO, Jacqueline Gold, undercover. Given her relative fame in the retail world, the fear was that shop floor staff would immediately recognise her. Instead, she asked her sister, Deputy MD Vanessa Gold, to don a disguise and go on a mission to uncover what really makes the business tick.
 
The overriding message was how quickly a company can lose focus (and profits) if it fails to have a thorough understanding of what its customers want and if its management team don’t invest time in getting to know customers. But what struck me most is that, despite 26 years in the family business, it took the presence of a camera crew for Vanessa to realise this.

It became apparent that Vanessa has actually had very little to do with customers during her time at Ann Summers and was visibly nervous and frightened at the prospect of having to interact with them. Odd, I thought, and so did several of those I saw commenting on the programme on Twitter.

Many successful CEOs start their careers ‘on the floor’. Even on graduate schemes, companies such as M&S and Tesco insist their trainees understand the customer-facing elements of the business first, even if they then end up working at head office. Retailers that we’ve worked with at Fishburn Hedges also insist that, as their communications advisers, we ‘immerse’ ourselves in the business by spending time on the shop floor. As a matter of course, we also spend time in a potential client’s retail environment before meeting them. This experience is invaluable as we help to tell our clients’ stories to the media and stakeholders.

Participating in last night’s programme definitely did Ann Summers no harm in the end. Jacqueline and Vanessa came across as caring bosses who were keen to learn more about their business and to change some of their policies as a result.

However, you have to wonder, if the programme hadn’t encouraged Vanessa to step down from her ivory tower, would her lack of awareness and understanding of the employee and customer base have damaged the business in the long-term?

Despite uncovering a few home truths and making Vanessa look slightly out-of-touch, involvement in Undercover Boss has to have been a good thing for Ann Summers. It was also an important and timely reiteration of some of the essentials of business communication, internal and external, for the UK retail industry as a whole.

Posted by Jo Kwiatkowska