Do you know the very first place to begin earning customer loyalty?

The first place leadership and management can begin to earn customer loyalty is from within their own organizations – with their own people, or their “internal customers”.  You must be healthy inside, if you are to look exceptional on the outside.

Part 4 of this article series serves to provide an enhanced appreciation for the internal components that help drive and sustain customer loyalty externally: Being a visionary, Leading with personal power, and Praising your employees.

Be a Visionary

Have you ever worked for a company and asked yourself, “Doesn’t anybody know what in the he** is going on around here?”  Me too.

I have experience with an organization in which the president of the company (a holier than thou sort) changed the direction and focus of the company literally every 2 weeks!

If you could’ve witnessed the impact of that sort of leadership on the workforce, you would’ve seen some very talented employees feeling and behaving confused, frustrated, and fearful.  Confused because they didn’t know which way was up (at work), frustrated because they often felt like they were stupid, and fearful because they were consistently yelled at for the decisions of their inadequate leader.

Now let me ask you, what impact does such a lack of vision and focus have on an organization’s effectiveness for achieving company growth?  Customer Loyalty?

Executives, managers and leaders: If you haven’t yet provided your workforce/direct reports with a vision for success (where the company wants to go, be, etc.), you may want to consider taking some time and reflect on what that vision is, and then share it, many, many times!

If you provide your people with a vision, you’ve provided them with an inspirational purpose that will guide their daily activities for achieving company goals.

If you choose not to be a visionary, I guarantee a majority of your workforce/reports are confused and they don’t know what you want.  How does this look from the outside?  What will be your external customers’ experience?

Lead with Personal Power

Sometimes executives and managers believe if they yell or speak aggressively their employees will know what they want.  A few weeks ago I had the unexpected “pleasure” of overhearing a business owner yelling at one of his employees. It sounded like he was yelling at a misbehaving child or pet.  The employee stiffened up, zipped his lips, and took orders just as he was treated – an obedient child or scared puppy with his tail between his legs.

Why? – Probably because he was afraid of the consequences if he chose to behave otherwise.  Imagine, on a daily basis this employee performs out of fear, not inspiration, to achieve company goals (although this sort of leadership isn’t quite exemplary for goal setting).

What is your method of leading?  Do you lead others with personal power (others perform for you based on your personal leadership and the value you provide others), or, do you choose instead to lead with fear-based authority (you are insecure and misguided about how to get results)?

Sometime today, take a few moments to reflect on how you’ve been getting results from others at work.  On a scale of 1-5, 5 being high for personal power, note your score so you can either keep up the good work, or strive for improvement.

If you lead with personal power, people will do what you ask them to do because you’ve consistently shown them that you are a resource, you listen, empathize, inspire and understand them, and you take the time to help them with their problems.  People will respect you, and take pride in using the best of their abilities to meet your expectations.

If you lead with fear, your commands are a drone, and your results will reflect accordingly.  Again, how does this look from the outside?  What will be the customer’s experience upon interacting with your fearful employees?

Praise your employees (often!)

Your employees are internal “customers”!  Just as your external customers possess wants/needs/desires that they seek to have fulfilled (hopefully via your product/service), so to do your employees have wants/needs/desires they seek to have fulfilled by their employers. If your internal and external customers’ wants/needs aren’t being met, they will not be satisfied, and they will not be loyal to you or your organization.

What is it that you do to help keep your internal customers satisfied and loyal?

The almighty thing you can do better this week (and the many that follow) to boost employee satisfaction is to seek out opportunities to praise them often. Something to the degree of, “Hey…awesome job on that analysis yesterday.  You really have a keen ability for sifting through details.  Thank you so much!”

When you praise your employees, notice the emotion in their face, their sense of pride for pleasing you, and the increase in positive behaviors and performance.

How does THAT look from the outside?  What will be the customer’s experience?

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What is your favorite story of exceptional customer service where you find yourself looking forward to interacting with the company again and spending your time and money?

Here’s my favorite story that may have some things in common with yours:

My daughter and I were going to one of our preferred restaurants for lunch where we helped ourselves to a seat and waited for a server to bring us our menus (the usual protocol for eating in the more casual saloon area).  We were so engrossed in our conversation we didn’t notice we’d been waiting for a server for about 30 minutes or more.

One of the staff eventually realized we weren’t being helped, and sent a server over who graciously apologized for the wait, and thus offered us a complimentary appetizer.  That was nice, we thought.  But upon deeper consideration, my daughter and I weren’t all that hungry, and didn’t want to spoil our lunch with an app.  When the waiter returned we said thanks, but no thanks, and no problem!  We were impressed with their effort to make it up to us!

Our kind refusal of the appetizer, however, did not satisfy the manager.  The server returned at the end of our meal and offered us complimentary dessert instead!  Oddly enough, my daughter and I didn’t want a dessert either and kindly turned the offer down (we were nice customers, weren’t we?!).  Still, the manager was not satisfied because the server finally came back with our bill paid, on the house…Nice!

On the drive home I kept thinking how awesome it was that the manager went out of his way to make up for having us wait longer than usual for a server.  He wasn’t satisfied unless we were compensated in some way!

What’s more, his objective to create a positive experience between the restaurant and us resulted in two highly loyal customers (although my daughter is too young to buy lunch, she sure has influence!). I tell this story to many people who ask about the quality of the restaurant, and it remains one of my favorite places to eat with fresh, healthy food options and exceptional customer service.

And like a good, loyal customer does, I naturally provide free advertising for:  Mitchell’s Fish Market in Brookfield, WI (Props!)

What is your favorite story?

How do you and your organization (regardless of industry) create exceptional customer experiences?

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