Is Employee Engagement the Secret To Better Customer Experience?

We’re all in the people business. Regardless of what you sell, there’s a person behind ever dollar made. And it’s not just your customer. Employee engagement has a direct impact on customer experience. Not knowing what motivates your employees will make it nearly impossible to deliver on your brand promise of serving your customers.

What is employee engagement?

Engaged employees aren’t just satisfied, nor are they necessarily happier than their colleagues. But like you, they believe in the business and understand the goals it’s trying to reach. So every time they show up for work, they are actively “engaged” in doing their part in helping to make that happen.

They do so by going the extra mile for service. They cheerfully answer the phone even though their shift just ended. They come back from break early when they see a line of customers at the cashwrap, so that they can check them out and get them on their way. These unsung heroes stay late when the pressure is on without complaint.

In fact, “that’s not my job” isn’t even in the vocabulary of an engaged employee. But “what more can I do?” is.

Gauge employee buy-in

Now, just because these employees are sold out on the business, doesn’t mean, as the business owner, that you abuse that.

Instead, find out what motivates these employees so that you can harness that power to create a business culture that produces even more of them.

If you find employee engagement lacking within your business, consider creating a formal employee engagement program. It doesn’t have to be overly complicated, but it does have to be an intentional effort.

Initiatives to include would go beyond gift cards, although contests with those as prizes help generate excitement and spark a little friendly competition.

Also consider establishing open door policies and encourage employees to share their ideas. Hire middle managers who will support those initiatives, not shut them down because they feel threatened.

Use employee ideas when possible, and make a big deal about it. The celebration may inspire someone else to submit their idea.

Take the time to show employees how their work directly impacts the bottom line – not to scare them – but to help them see that what they do, matters.

And these are just a few of the many ways you can better engage employees. The decision to do so can change the trajectory of your business. Unlike office gossip, you want this type of model behavior to spread for it has a direct impact on customer experience.

Employee engagement fuels customer experience

If nothing else, remember this: the battle for your business is won or lost on the frontlines of the marketplace. And regardless of how well known you, the business owner, may be, for those of us who have employees, it’s your employees who become the face of your brand because they are the ones engaging with customers.