Often, when companies have attempted to introduce a competitive element in the supply and purchase of services available internally, they have found it has surfaced inter-personnel frictions, which heralded serious repercussions throughout the business. Norwich Union's attempt at introducing such change within its legal division is an example of how internal marketing can help the transition.

Traditional practice at Norwich Union mandated use of the company's 40-strong legal section, except in certain special circumstances. No charge was made for services provided. All this changed when John Flynn, then head of department, made a policy decision to make the department more acceptable to its users, since perceptions across the company were that the legal section was poor at customer relations. The decision was made to try to get a measurable improvement in the legal section's operation and in its user satisfaction.

The first step of this undertaking involved conducting an image study, among the department's clients, to establish a flag-post of current status. The study segmented users of the department's services as light, medium and heavy across a variety of service categories, such as commercial conveyancing to litigation. The study highlighted the areas in which the department was considered deficient, especially in terms of skills, responsiveness and efficiency. The study also revealed a number of misconceptions which clients held about the department, and highlighted that there was less than clear knowledge of the full range of services that the legal section was currently providing and could be providing.

The findings led to immediate actions to rectify areas where criticism was justified. In conjunction with the remedial actions, an image campaign was launched to change perceptions where they were ill founded. A marketing plan was developed, which included ‘getting to know you’ (two-way presentations), in which the legal department set out its services and answered questions on facilities, skills and plans. Following this, internal clients were asked to summarize their own activities and pro- blems. This then began joint discussions to see how relationships and interactions could be improved to the benefit of both sides. From issues raised and suggestions, the legal department, just as with many private legal practices, began production and circulation of a brochure and newsletters on a regular basis. A customer care programme was also introduced, which included a regular analysis of complaints. To deal with any points arising from these surveys, a rectification and zero-defect system was set up. Twelve months after the campaign, a check for overall progress was conducted. The results of this revealed a vast improvement in both the image of the department and the quality of client relations. As for the internal clients, they signalled improvements in efficiency as a consequence of the new approach.

From its internal marketing efforts, which began in the legal section, Norwich Union learnt that just because the customers are internal it does not mean (though it was often unwisely assumed) that all the information required about them is known or is obtainable. Indeed, neither proposition is wholly true.

From their experience, it was seen that one basic technique for successful internal marketing in this context was that of networking. Networking involved using contacts and the contacts’ contacts to offer the service and to encourage referrals. Norwich Union found that to effectively engage in this requires two things:

   First, know yourself. One basic question that has to be answered is whether every potential and actual internal client knows every aspect of every service that is and can be provided. The problem is that often even the departments themselves do not know or appreciate their own range or the quality of their offerings, so it is not surprising that clients do not know it either. The point is simple: if potential clients do not know what you are offering and can offer they cannot buy it.

   Second, know your client. The internal marketing department has to take steps to ensure that they understand their current and potential client in depth. They must appreciate their problems, policies, aspirations and activities. Only after such understanding has been compiled and assimilated is it possible to start active internal marketing actions such as internal promotion, etc.

In tackling the network challenge, the company had to address a number of barriers:

   Territorialism. Many managers were brought up with silo mentalities, and tended to be very protective of clients. They did not wish to expose their own business to the risk that another department or operating company would fail to satisfy the client and thereby jeopardize their relationship.

   The ‘what's in it for me?’ syndrome. It was crucial to be able to highlight benefits to the referral agency; otherwise, they saw no reason to expose themselves to risk. One way was to highlight long-term reciprocity. If this could be demonstrated then the battle for co-operation was largely won.

   Personality clashes and internal competition. The company had to address not just turf mentality, but also battles of promotion and career progression implication as a consequence of moving from individual competition to get up the corporate ladder to team-based collaborative success.

Whilst none of these barriers was insuperable, they needed direct consideration and sustained action to ameliorate and remove their negative effects.

Source: Wilson, A. (1995). The internal marketing of services: the new age surge. Logistics Information Management, 8 (4), 357–63.