Luke Vandermillen addressed the importance of listening in his talk this morning. Photos by Anna Jones from Anna Jones | Art of Photography and Tom Woolery from Ikonix Studio.
With Thinc Iowa only a few hours old, a strong theme was already emerging when Luke Vandermillen, who leads marketing for retirement and investor services at the Principal Financial Group, took the stage: the importance of listening to the customer. I think it’s a stereotype that large firms don’t listen and the small ones do. Vandermillen did a great job of dispelling that myth by focusing his presentation on how a big firm like his does listen.
Per my editor’s request, I present to you my Five T.I. Takeaways (not sure if that is trademarked yet) from Vandermillen’s presentation.
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Five T.I. Takeaways
1. Above all, listen
How has The Principal kept an open ear to the customer? “You listen, you evolve and you innovate,” Vandermillen said. “And you keep doing it again and again.”
“Most of all, we listen. We listen to entrepreneurs and SMB’s. What do they need?”
2. Taking care of people
Vandermillen emphasized that the way employees are treated shines through in the way that they, in turn, treat customers. “If we take care of our people, our people will take care of our clients,” he said, “and our clients will take care of us.”
3. Employees drive success
Surveys by The Principal found that the best companies recognize that employees are their biggest asset, and that’s how they thrive. Of The Principal’s top 100 identified small- and medium-sized businesses, 99 are still going and growing 10 years later. The one that didn’t make it was in the mortgage space.)
4. Communication’s key
Vandermillen said finding the right manner in which to interact has been important for The Principal. “One thing we have really worked at with our energies,” he said, “is to communicate with people in a way they want to be communicated with.”
5. A personal note
Having previously worked in investments, I remember the industry as slow to change and fairly ignorant to the consumer and his or her interests. It was pretty cool to see a firm like The Principal putting so much emphasis on listening and evolving based on what they hear. If a financial services firm is doing it, you better be too.