Do the math. Divide your total annual revenue by your total number of customers to calculate the worth of your average customer. Now divide your total annual revenue by the number of your internal customers (better known as staff) to estimate their average worth.
You will soon discover your average employee is worth more than your average customer. Do you give them the same attention and courtesy you give your external customers?
“Stuff” rolls downhill, and happy employees will treat your customers better than unhappy employees will. These tips will help you create a more customer-friendly environment.
1.) Respect Your “Internal Customers”
The way you treat your staff inevitably results in the way they’ll treat your customers. Is the staff washroom and lunchroom as attractive as your customer showroom? Do staff complaints receive the same attention that customer complaints do?
2.) Invest in Training
Training pays off on two fronts: one – your customers prefer to do business with well-trained staff, and two – staff respond positively to employers who make an investment in their careers.
3.) Catch ‘em Doing Something Right
Behaviors that get rewarded get repeated. If you want your staff to exhibit more customer-friendly behaviors, you need to recognize those behaviors. Begin your daily planner every day with a note to “Catch someone doing something right today”.
4.) 360 Degree Feedback
Schedule regular performance reviews to highlight the positives as well as the negatives. Most importantly, make them two-way performance reviews, allowing the employees to tell you how they think you and your company are performing.
5.) Attract the Right Raw Material
Hire for attitude and will, over aptitude and skill. Skills can be taught; attitudes are hard to change. If the applicant you are interviewing left their last three jobs because their “boss was a jerk”, the odds are overwhelming that you’ll be a jerk too!
6.) Sell Them
Employees perform better for companies and people they are proud of. Sell them every day on your mission, the merits of your company, your products, and your services. And don’t be afraid to ask for suggestions and input so staffers can tell themselves it was their idea!
7.) Team Players
Develop a team spirit where each player is dedicated to their teammates’ success. Any team is only as strong as its weakest player, and everyone should be encouraged to develop and help their fellow team members.
8.) Communicate
Make sure your staff hears about new developments within your company from you, not from the rumor mill. And when you are introducing new concepts or processes, introduce them from the staff’s point of view rather than the company’s, i.e. “These new computers will make it easier for you to do your job”, versus “These new computers will increase our profit margins.”
9. Recognition
Recognize individual and team achievements privately and publicly. Even the smallest victory should be recognized and celebrated, and when possible, promotions should come from within rather than hiring from outside, and they should be based upon merit, NOT tenure.
10.) Empowerment
Try not to micro-manage your people. A little trust goes a long way. Let your staff know they are allowed to make mistakes as long as they learn from those mistakes. Also, have customer service policies and procedures that empower your staff to resolve most customer complaints themselves rather than having to run to their manager.
At Titan Broadcasting and Digital Group, we believe our responsive, on-going communication with our clients is one of the biggest reasons why our partnerships are so successful. Whenever you need us, we’ll be there by your side to answer your questions and help your business grow in any way we can! www.titanburlington.com/contact-us/
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