Planning A Customer Satisfaction Initiative? Don’t Forget These 5 Employee Engagement Tips.
When organizations first look to increase customer satisfaction, many jump immediately to new technology or new tools to increase customer lifetime values and return on investment. In doing so, organizations skip one of the most important steps in the process of improving customer satisfaction – employee engagement.
Customer satisfaction begins with having positive experiences with your employees. The human interactions during a customer’s journey through an organization ultimately foster a culture in which every employee strives to provide an exceptional service experience, which strengthens customer satisfaction levels. This heightened service allows the organization to stand apart from its competition.
Benefits of Engaged Employees
When correctly executed, insights derived from Employee Engagement Initiatives offer many advantages to business-to-business organizations. It supports two-way communication, establishes trust and confidence in leadership, leads to improved service quality, and delivers growth for the organization as a whole.
Additionally, a well-organized Employee Engagement Initiative can encourage change across the organization, not just for customer service, but also for marketing, sales, and human resources.
We say the ultimate goal of these efforts is to establish an honest culture that seeks involvement from all levels of the organization and recognizes exceptional work on a daily basis.
To ensure an inclusive adoption of the initiative throughout the entire organization, here are my five employee engagement tips:
Create an attainable strategy to boost engagement
To be successful, an attainable strategy must take into account that employees need time to understand and react to any changes you make. The strategy should connect employee engagement to current business objectives. It should also lay a solid foundation while maintaining flexibility to adapt to future changes in the marketplace.
The strategy should connect employee engagement to current business objectives. It should also lay a solid foundation while maintaining flexibility to adapt to future changes in the marketplace.
Establish metrics to measure employee engagement
As with any initiative, the metrics are where the rubber hits the proverbial road.
Establishing reliable metrics will allow you to reinforce positive behaviors while permitting adjustments to the initiative if results are inconsistent. These metrics should consist of several different types of measurable data and information and could include Net Promoter Score®, Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) or Customer Defection Analysis reports.
Take time to design effective methods to measure the levels of success through each phase of an initiative.
Include the entire organization in your efforts
Group execution will help to support your organization’s larger objectives. Sustainable change requires a strong educational training process, the use of simple and effective tools, and the appropriate people managing the effort.
Design a tool kit for managers with suggestions to keep the program alive and current over time. Engage employees by promoting confidence, collaboration, career opportunities, and a clear sense of purpose.
Go beyond training and the tools
It’s important to consider the core behaviors that will carry out the strategies.
Behaviors instilled in your employees will ultimately define the journey for your customers and should serve as a key element of the program as efforts progress over time.
An ingredient for a happy customer is an educated, engaged and empowered employee
Employees who have the appropriate tools and core behaviors can help enhance the organization’s awareness of customer needs and expectations, resulting in a proactive model of improved employee and customer engagement. This will permit agility in the marketplace, thereby further differentiating your organization from others in the industry.
Keep in mind that the successful execution of your Employee Engagement Initiative will lead to a clear line of sight to larger goals and strategies for your organization. In order for change to be sustainable, you must implement a well-developed process, adopt simple and effective tools, and have the right people leading your effort.
In order for change to be sustainable, you must implement a well-developed process, adopt simple and effective tools, and have the right people leading your effort.