Book excerpt: Use these techniques to improve staff performance! Internal Relationship Management: Linking Human Resources to Marketing Performance shows how businesses can develop and maintain positive interactions between managers and employees. This book provides cutting-edge research on the management of internal customers (i.e., employees) that offers practical suggestions to improve internal service, employee performance, andultimatelyexternal marketing performance. This useful resource contains many special features to augment the text, including tables, figures, and models. Internal Relationship Management explores key issues, such as: internal relationship managementmanaging relationships with internal customers human resources activitiesactions taken to influence employee attitudes and work-related behaviors career entrythe initial stages of the internal relationship management process organizational supportservices provided to employees in an effort to support them With this book, you’ll gain a better understanding of: boundary spanners’ appraisals of career entry transitionfrom telecommunications, insurance, manufacturing, accounting, and retail firms the recruitment, selection, and retention of customer-contact service employees how internal communication processes affect boundary spanners’ satisfaction with organizational support services employee brandingemployees internalize the firm’s desired brand image to project it to customers and external stakeholders the internal customer mindsetthe importance employees place on serving internal customers The authors of Internal Relationship Management are established scholars in both marketing and management, providing an integrated, state-of-the-art perspective on how internal relations affect marketing performance. This book presents extensive research and case studies to emphasize how employee satisfaction results in customer satisfaction.