The Inside-Out Approach: Engaged Employees = Satisfied Customers
Jeremy Jones
At kreativeMotive, we focus on two areas: customer satisfaction and employee engagement. Why these two? The short answer is there isn’t one without the other. The long answer I’ll get to in a moment. First, consider these quotes from top business minds:
“Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” -Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group
“Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.” -Simon Sinek, Bestselling Author
“You can’t expect your employees to exceed the expectations of your customers if you don’t exceed the employees’ expectations of management.” -Howard Schultz, CEO Starbucks Coffee
Successful companies get it: an investment in employees is an investment in customers. Investing in employees means providing the tools, feedback, resources, and environment to be engaged.
Let’s Talk Engagement
You’ve probably seen the dismal statistics on employee engagement: only 33% of U.S. employees and only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged.
It doesn’t sound good does it? But when we say employee engagement, what do we really mean? How can we possibly measure it? More importantly, what can we do to achieve it?
According to Forbes, employee engagement is defined as,
“The emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals. This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company. They don't work just for a paycheck, or just for the next promotion, but work on behalf of the organization's goals. When employees care—when they are engaged—they use discretionary effort.”
Companies earn this kind of commitment by creating a sense of belong in their organizations, supporting relationships among peers and managers, and giving frequent employee recognition.
The best way to know if you’re cultivating an environment where engagement can thrive is to ask your employees themselves. We built kreativeMotive’s employee engagement surveys to do just that: begin a dialogue between leadership and employees. They tell employees that you’re listening, that you respect their input, and you’re willing to act on the information they give you. That’s a powerful step in trust building.
But we don’t just stop there. Your survey results mean little on their own. They tell you what’s going well and what isn’t, but not how to capitalize on your strengths and heal your weaknesses. We’re here to help with that, too, by working with you to create a personalized strategy. Not the same strategy we gave a client last week, but one that is unique to your results.
Tip: Never undertake an engagement or satisfaction measurement program unless you're willing to invest in significant, organization-wide changes. Asking for feedback, and then doing nothing with the results, or worse, dismissing negative results is far worse than not asking for feedback at all. This costly mistake can actually decrease employee engagement or customer satisfaction.
Now, Let’s Talk Satisfaction
You’d probably like to talk about customer satisfaction first, right? Because you know that happy customers are one of the only ways your business can be successful. But, the truth is, you can’t achieve consistent customer satisfaction without ensuring that your employees are also consistently engaged. When you think about it, the fate of your business is in your employees’ hands. If you’re going to surrender that kind of control, you’d best put it in the hands of people who feel empowered, appreciated, committed, and aligned with your goals. Right? Right.
Only then can you apply the principles of good customer service. Only then can you foster the attitudes that create effective customer experiences. Only then can you teach the listening skills to understand your customers’ needs—and ultimately prevent issues before they can arise. That’s what you want, isn’t it? We can help with that, too.
We know that just like engaged employees create happy customers, happy customers help create engaged employees—by building confidence and reinforcing positive behaviors and interactions.
It makes sense, doesn’t it? Let’s take the first steps together. Contact us today! http://www.kreativemotive.com/contact/
About the Authors:
Allison Bannister is a freelance writer with 15 years of experience in the areas of technical, marketing, proposal, and content writing. She worked for eight of those years in the field of employee recognition, spending countless hours researching and writing about engagement strategies and solutions to workplace issues. Jeremy Jones is the founder and CEO of kreativeMotive, a market research firm specializing in Customer Satisfaction, Employee Engagement, and Service Design. His experience is built on nearly 25 years in product management, business development and customer analysis, giving him a unique insight into feedback-driven results.