When companies spend time ensuring their employees are engaged, the results speak for themselves.
According to CX futurist Blake Morgan, companies with highly engaged employees outperform their competition by 147%. Further, 79% of employees at companies with above average CX are highly engaged in their jobs vs. 49% of employees with average or below average CX scores.
So, what is the correlation between employee excellence (EX) and customer excellence (CX). Unfortunately, it’s very common for teams to use words such as “family” and “culture” to the point that it may lose its sincerity. However, providing a good product, without a team that’s truly buying into your mission, is like building a car with a beautiful exterior and high-tech features, but an unreliable engine.
This all boils down to a simple fact. We cannot take good care of customers unless we take good care of each other. Therefore, EX and CX aren’t all that dissimilar. In fact, they both rely on the other.
Recognition and Personalization Breeds Loyalty
It’s no secret that everyone enjoys feeling recognized. Recognition and appreciation is the main way to anyone’s heart. When employers make their teams feel valued, retention sores. This is the same outlook for customers — appreciation can often negate churn. To take this even deeper, customers like personalized shopping and user experiences. Personalization matters, whether it’s offering personalized purchase options for customers, or unique options for team members, making people feel heard and seen is incredibly important.
When companies show that they care, they inspire customers and employees to also care. This can be as simple as using names in discussions, to offering specialized work options for employees. By establishing personal relationships with customers and employees, organizations create spaces everyone can appreciate.
Everyone Wants to Be Heard – Customers and Employees
Feedback is what powers most customer satisfaction campaigns. So, why not use the same tactics for our internal teams? Consistent company surveys and opportunities for feedback give companies more information to turn into improvements for every future touchpoint.
By providing outlets for feedback, your team genuinely feels as if they have a say in the direction of the company, and in turn, ownership in the product.
A Welcoming Storefront and a Welcoming Office
Creating a welcoming environment is usually top-of-mind for brick and mortar stores. Similarly, it’s top-of-mind for apps, websites and other digital products. So, if we are ensuring our customers feel welcome, and have easy access to services, shouldn’t our employees feel the same way?
Just as good lighting sets the mood for customers, our employees also deserve comfortable work areas, and a pleasant place to work. Just as our customers need an easy-to-use software or website, our team members also deserve user-friendly work software and tools. While customers are key, our teams are vital to keeping them happy. They deserve the best internal software, processes and spaces.
Focus on the Whole Experience
You may have heard the mantra of “sell an experience, rather than a product”, and this is a very valid way to approach work. As a general rule, customers care more about the experience than prices. They’re willing to spend a little extra if the service and quality is worth it.
The same can be said for team members, too. If we ensure that our team members are valued, appreciated, and have the right tools to genuinely want to succeed – they won’t mind going that extra mile to close a deal, finish a task, or bring forth even more ideas to the team. This is very similar to the customer who doesn’t mind paying a little extra for a product, it’s because they genuinely care for the product and enjoy the experience.
Consider these few connections between our customers and employees, and you’ll see that you aren’t only selling your vision to customers, but also to your team. By ensuring they feel valued, and comfortable, you can ensure true brand advocates who will ensure the success of your company.
About the Author
Peter Mullen is the VP of Marketing at VXI.
VXI is one of the world’s largest customer experience (CX) companies with 34,000 employees in 42 locations globally. VXI designs, builds, implements and supports innovative customer-engagement platforms with robust technology and world-class business services. Peter leads a global marketing team across 3 continents with a focus on Lead Generation, Customer Acquisition, Brand Development, ABM, Digital Marketing and Communications.
