Fuelled by a Philly cheese steak with optional mayo, it was a sunny day in Philadelphia at the SOCAP Symposium when I asked a simple question of a room full of workshop delegates. “Who are the most important people in your company? Those at the top or those at the bottom?”

Well, not withstanding the premise that there could ever be those two locations in the modern corporation, the question elicited an earth-shakingly simple answer “the bottom”.

No problem there you might think, but hey, ask the next question “Who are the lowest paid, least resourced, least trained, most unsupported people?” Perverse then was the reply? It’s the very same group.

If you compare that proposition to the investment which companies make on customer relationship management software, the IT department, and the maintenance of technology you might get someway towards finding out why ‘churn’ has a growing prevalence across each side of the Atlantic. Just compare the investment process for a new piece of technology to that of the acquisition of a call centre worker too. Perhaps, it is a world of ‘things’ now?

In 1990, US companies spent 19% of their capital budgets on IT. By 2000 they were spending 59% of their capital budgets on IT. Much of that money went into customer relationship management (CRM) programmes. However, a Rutgers University report tells us the investment in research adds 6% to value, investment in technology adds 1%, whereas investment in the way people are treated adds 19%.

Perverse investment or what? And there’s worse. The Confederation of British Industry said that the increased minimum wage and the working time directive would ‘cost’ industry $19.7 billion. Little acknowledgement there of the considerable benefits which their workers would be receiving and feeling!

Gallup tells us that comparing scores for employee engagement, profitability, sales, employee retention and customer satisfaction across 7939 businesses units – the most engaged individuals were often the highest performing. Watson Wyatt say that “adopting the best practices to employ people can add up to 30% in shareholder returns over a five-year period”. The case for ‘high performing people’ clearly has substance and your people are not a cost – they are an investment!

Further studies confirm that 70% of investment in CRM technology fails to deliver an improvement in customer satisfaction. Is that a problem of faulty technology or can we point a finger down to those people at the bottom of an organisation who have the dubious pleasure of operating the stuff? Or perhaps upwards to those managers responsible for people management?

If indeed that digit is headed in the right direction then urgent action is needed. Having thrown our stick to the wind have we noticed that the dog of current thinking has brought back something completely different?

Don Peppers and Martha Rogers tell us that we have to develop one-to-one relationships with our customers. Faith Popcorn loves the notion of ego-nomics. The days of dealing with our customers in bulk has seen better days. Every customer is different and Patricia Seybold has led us down the path of personalised customer scenarios. Waiting in the wings are our people. Is there anything, which we do with, to and for our customers, which should not be there for our people?

Should they be treated differently? Are they still be regarded as “plug and play” parts. You can’t be serious! Our people are the source of the intangibles that determine our collective success. Is it therefore not time that we introduce the concept of PRM™ – People Relationship Management?

Not only is it time that we invested considerably more in the maintenance in the hardware and software of our people, but it might be even more appropriate for it to be our largest investment. Make every cent a euro!

Convince me you say. Let’s just take a look at the computing power of the average individual. Most people get dressed in a few minutes and usually wear between eight and fourteen items. The theoretical total number of ways of putting on your clothes is:

Surprised? Assume you are wearing ten items. You can choose a sock to put on your left foot. That leaves you with a choice of nine items to put on the other foot. Given that you had ten ways of choosing the first item, and nine for the second, the total number of ways of putting on the first two items is 10 X 9 = 90. Continue the theory and you’ll get to over 3 million choices.

Every day we make this sort of computing decision and we program ourselves to memorise the solution. Same with crossing the road. Speed and traction of approaching vehicles, distance across the road, our speed, road conditions, and the weather are all computed to get us across the ten metres of asphalt.

If that computing power exists in every member of your staff or team then how well are you using it?

The other great asset residing in your people is their ability to add an emotional dimension to your service proposition. Their aptitude to create mental models, the gathering of intuitions, attitudes, understandings and feelings, as Peter Senge calls them, represents a huge benefit to your collective resource basis.

It is no coincidence that the huge successes of soccer clubs like Manchester United, and the power of movies, orchestras, and shows, is based on a huge ratio of training and maintenance to performance. The average company spends around 2.5% of payroll on training compared to at least 60% in most sports teams.

We could look to modern orchestras and the model espoused by Ben Zander, the Boston Philharmonic conductor – a model based on personal mastery, shared mental models, coaching, learning, and empowerment. An orchestra is the ultimate high-performing group, participating in an activity in which everyone is involved – the players, the conductor, the audience (the consumer) and in which everyone wins.

Each player probably has the skill of a soloist but has to blend in with the other players to create a performance to delight the audience. The notes of a symphony never vary but the conductor gives the piece a pattern of shape, phrase, and emphasis and dynamic. There are no rewards for being the loudest or achieving the longest held note. It is not a case of triangle versus the timpani!

The Zander model comes with some extraordinary techniques. He is lavish with praise, often rehearses with different sets of musicians – one playing and one in listening mode, and starts every student’s year by awarding an ‘A’ grade. It represents both his expectation and his commitment to help them achieve their very best.

It is the salience of this investment in personal values, time, one to one coaching, and the development of truly collaborative behaviour, which is key to the development of your people.