The Communication Skills of Janine Allis, CEO of Boost Juice Bars in Australia - Case Study Example

Effective Communication Name: Course: Tutor: Date Introduction Communication is the process through which people transmit information amongst themselves. Effective communication must include an understanding of messages communicated or information exchanged. Hence, an effective communicator must be able to convey the right message to the intended person. In a corporate setting, Amrik (2007) notes that communication has clear-cut objectives, which includes coordinating the activities in an organization, enhancing good organization relations, developing managerial skills and translating organization policies into action (p. 3). Downs and Adrian (2004) note that communication is a dynamic and continuous process (p. 3). This paper will analyze the communication skills of Janine Allis, CEO of Boost Juice Bars in Australia. Apart from being a leading entrepreneur in the country, she has been leading in the expansion of Boost Juice Bar business from a one-store shop in 2001 in Adelaide, to more than 200 shops across the world today. Janine first started by taking advantage of banana shortage in her hometown to launch the healthy juices concept. According to Amrik (2007), her communication strategy involved putting healthy eating back in the social agenda. Her first communication success was writing the business plan for the juice shop, pitching the same to investors and managing to raise $200,000 dollars in starting capital. Janine’s organizational communications strategies On a statement posted on the Boost Juice Bars’ website, it is apparent that the entrepreneur has incorporated effective communication in the organization’s marketing strategy to gain more market for her juices and smoothies. One such notable strategy is the unique approach to local marketing, where the company uses national wide campaigns to create awareness about the products. Janine’s company has developed a product manual for each juice they produce. The manuals contain case studies done on the product as well as research and other helpful tips that inform clients. Janine has gone a step further to seek celebrity endorsement for her products. With this, she manages to capture the youthful market, because they are more likely to listen to the celebrity figures amongst them more than any other informative form of advertising or marketing. As noted by Amrik (2007), no business can succeed in today’s competitive market without engaging in proper internal communication. This includes both internal communication and external communication. Since Janine’s business has expanded to include international franchises, maintaining a link between all these branches calls for an efficient and effective communication network (p. 4) Considering the complexity of coordinating production, marketing, administration, financing and the different stores in her company, it is presumable that Janine must have laid an effective communication strategy in her company. In the company’s website, Janine states that she encourages all people to work as peers in order to foster effective communication, understanding and cooperation among all staff members. The fact that Janine has managed to get licensing for all her business outlets is a clear indication that she is also effective in external communications. This is further shown by her ability to work with many distributors, retailers and individual customers. According to Garvin and Roberto (2005), some leaders effect change in their respective societies through persuasion (p. 4-5). To be effective in this, one needs to articulate his/her ideas well so that people can understand the concept. Only then can they be persuaded to take up the communicator’s idea. In Janine’s case, she started by drawing a business plan, which she used to convince financiers of its practicality. After getting the financing, she went ahead to convince her target market that fresh squeezed juices would present a healthy alternative to carbonated drinks. Janine also used her products to convince parents that they can avoid the upsurge of obesity in their children by choosing healthier alternatives to the fast food options (Franchise Expo). She also made sure to instil her belief and conviction to her employees. The persuasion plan in Janine’s case was based on differentiating the time she was setting up her business from the past. This works like a political campaign (Garvin & Roberto 2005, p. 4). Persuasion skills While opening the United Kingdom Franchise, Janine employed her persuasion skills once more by organizing public relations campaigns and sampling drives in Manchester, where the first shop was located (Waugh 2000). Unlike direct marketing strategies, which involve advertising, public relations appeals to people in a good way, such that they do not feel as if the products were being shoved down their throats. The sampling drives were a good communication tool that enhanced the penetration of the products in the new market. Communication in an organization targeting the consumer market includes understanding the targeted market segment and devising means through which the organization can enhance persuasion and hence increase sales (Miller 2005, p. 11). In addition, communication is spreading the understanding of issues that either divide or unite them. Gauging by Janine’s choice of approach, she choose health as an issue that would appeal to a majority of people in Australia and beyond. By doing this, she spread the concept of healthy living (Boost Juice Bars 2007). Effective communication with employees According to Moss and Snachez (2004), Janine encourages people working in her company to do the jobs given to them with a positive attitude. As such, she discourages people who think that they ‘will try doing something” and instead encourage them to “just do the work”. According to Moss & Snachez (2004), effective managers engage in active listening and give effective feedback to their employees without having to threaten them (p. 6). By encouraging her new employees to start working immediately, Janine omits time wasting as noted by Rosner (2001), who noted that most companies fail because the new personnel spend a significant amount of the company time reading manuals, engaging in outdated processes and trying to observe the office culture (p. 2). On the other hand, less time would be wasted if the new personnel were grouped with other people doing real work to learn whatever needs to be learned on the job. Janine also uses communication channels quite effectively. The media for example has played a critical role in most of her expansion exercises. In 2007, for example, her company was looking for expansion possibilities. To help the process, Janine went public with the news. The news appeared in sections of newspapers with the inclusion of the successes of the company. The revelation that the company had tried to acquire a Canadian franchise without much success (Smart Company 2007) also helps to portray the company as one that does not shy away from failures. Fostering public relations Considering the expansion that Boost Juice Bars has gone through, Janine has taken full advantage of communication channels provided by technological advancement to reach these markets. According to Miller (2005), a multicultural workforce needs a neutral means of communication in order to avoid the messages sent or received from misinterpretation (p. 18). Janine has shown her preference for communication to her target market through radio advertising, PR campaigns in all forms of media and the use of Internet-based resources to enhance interaction between the company and their clients abroad. Miller (2005) states that good managers know the media preferences for each of their target markets. People born before the 1980 for example are more inclined to view TV than use of the Internet. As such, a person wishing to communicate to them through the media would choose the TV as his/her main channel. On the other hand, people born from the 1980s to date are likely to spend some of their free time playing video games, watching movies, listening to music or attending live concerts (p. 18). Cybernetic is theorized as information processing that helps organizations communicate optimally through network systems (Miller 2005 p13). As such, a manager seeking to communicate with young people who like web interactions would have to use such. To reach other groups of young people would require the manager to choose the best suitable media. Gauging by the radio advertisements in Australia alone, the Boost Juice Bars website and massive below-the-line and above-the-line campaigns, Janine has managed to use communication to her advantage. In fact, the company (through its website) claims to have had 94 percent brand awareness in five years since the company was started. The Vibe loyalty Club is another initiative in Janine’s company, which utilizes non-verbal communication to make clients feel like they are part of the company. In this initiative, members receive a stamp on a card each time they purchase a product. Accumulating a specific number of stamps qualifies the members to receive specific discounts from Boost Juice Bars (Boost Juice Bars 2007). According to information released by the company, the boost juice concept is not only about the products produced by the company, but also incorporates the entire experience that awaits a client every time they step into the company stores. In addition to the products, employees in the Stores run by Janine serve the clients in a positive and energetic manner. The environment in the stores is enhanced by bright colours, and clients entertained by smooth, fun music. This was Janine’s way of non-verbal communication to her clients. Further, her employees are always supportive of every positive change she makes to improve the quality of the company’s customer relations department. According to Fox and Amichai-Hambuger (2001), managers who talk to their employees about effecting specific changes in a company experience lower rates of resistance (p. 2). This is because whereas the employees may reject change following rational thoughts, an employer who takes time to explain the intentions behind the changes has an easy time persuading the employees towards a positive attitude towards the change. Through the company’s website, Janine states that she treats her employees as part of the company and therefore invites their views or suggestions when initiating changes that will affects their work. Janine’s company also values communication from their target market. As such, they encourage their customers to email them with any comments, appreciation or criticism. Most importantly, customers are encouraged to email the company with any complaints about service, products or the general setting of the stores. By doing this, Janine manages to create confidence among her clients that the company cares enough to address their individual concerns. By extension, the stores benefit from verbal marketing through contented customers. As a company that have grown in record years to become among one of the biggest soft drink companies in Australia, Boost Juice Bars has had to communicate its stand regarding green house emissions to the public. As such, Janine managed to communicate to the public that her company was engaging in an exercise that would curb green house emissions. Seeing that the environment degradation is an emotive issue to people in Australia and elsewhere in the world, the public relations exercise by Janine and her company created the impression that her company was open, committed and cooperative towards curbing environmental degradation. She also justified the use of foam containers in the packaging of her products claiming that research carried on foam found out that it did not have polluting agents. Skerlep (2001) notes that effective communicators use public relations exercise to create trust, justification and cooperation. They also use different forms of communication to secure their investments and structural bonds. Through such forms of communication, Janine manages to secure the reputation of her company by creating goodwill and understanding between her company and the targeted market. This is in line with the definition of public relations, which indicates that PR is a discipline that seeks to maintain the reputation of an entity through earning support and understanding and hence influencing opinions and public behaviour. Whether what Janine told the public was true or rhetoric is unknown to the author. However, Skerlep (2001) also states that there are no absolute truths as long as matters of public relations are concerned. After all, what most people are concerned about is creating a good image of their businesses to the public (p. 183). Janine does not hide the fact that she is a wife, a mother to three sons and a professional (Boost Juice Bars 2007). In a society where women are still not well represented in the workforce, this mode of communication appeals to many people across the board. Although Barret (2004) suggests that gender communication impacts the performance of women in the workplace (p. 392), Janine has proved that women can excel in a male dominated world. As such, the public are more likely to sample products associated with her company, if only to offer moral support. Others may however sample the products just to ensure that Janine is exactly the entrepreneur that is portrayed in the media. For Janine however, each sampling is an opportunity to impress and capture a new client. Conclusion The fact that Janine admits to having tried other forms of businesses before finally investing in the juice and smoothies industry is evident enough that she finally found a job that she enjoys doing. She especially appeals to the youth market by drawing similarities of the juices produced by her company with other gadgets that have a wide appeal with the youth such as Apple IPod. The products manufactured by Janine’s company also appeal to the health conscious people in the society since the company claims to use no additives to the juices. Such additives include sugar and artificial colours. Even without the additives, the company claims that the juices are tasteful, something that the public seems to agree with gauging by the amount of sales that the company has made over the years. Looking at Janine’s success story, this paper is of the opinion that effective communication is a combination of factors that deliver information to the target audience using different means without distorting the meaning. References Amrik, S 2007, Business Communication, Ammol Publications PVT Ltd, Mumbai. Barrett, M 2004, Should they learn to interrupt? Workplace communication strategies Australian women managers forecast as effective, Women in Management Review, 19 (8): 391 – 403. Boost Juice Bars 2007, available from www.boostjuicebars.com/au (14 October 2009). Downs, C & Adrian, A. (2004), Assessing Organizational Communication: Strategic Communication Audits, The Guildford Press, New York. pp 3-155 Fox, S & Amichai-Hamburger, Y 2001, The power of emotional appeals in promoting organizational change programs, Academy of Management Executive,15 (4): 84-95. Franchise Expo, 2007, The growth of Boost Juice Bars, Available from http://www.franchiseexpo.co.nz/franchise.cfm?s_booth=655362 (13 October 2009). Garvin, D & Roberto, M 2005, Change through persuasion, Harvard Business Review, 83(2): 104-112. Miller, K 2005, Organizational Communication: Approaches & processes, Thomson/Wadsworth, Belmont, Calif. pp 13-284 Moss, S & Sanchez, J 2004, Are your employees avoiding you? Managerial strategies for closing the feedback gap, Academy of Management Executive, 18 (1): 32-44. Rosner, B 2001, Studying the world beneath the organizational chart, Workforce, Sept 2001, pp. 64-68. Skerlep, A 2001, Re-evaluating the role of rhetoric in public relations theory and in strategies of corporate discourse, Journal of Communication Management, 6 (2):176-187. Smart Company, 2007, New look Boost Juice Bars ready to expand, Available from http://www.smartcompany.com.au/Free-Articles/The-Briefing/New-look-Boost-Juice-ready-to-expand.html (14 October 2009). Waugh, N 2007, Boost Juice Plots Major global expansion, Available from http://www.bandt.com.au/news/7e/0c04b87e.asp (14 October 2009). Read More