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Don’t lose sight of the Internal Customer Experience

Are you losing sight of the employee experience? As the stock market takes a tumble, companies are more concerned than ever about closing every deal and capitalizing on every ounce of revenue. This has led many business leaders to focus on what they view as most important: retaining current customers. Therefore, they are examining customer churn more closely than ever to ensure they are not losing customers for an easily solvable reason. They are looking at sales deals and what is needed to push them over the finish line. But it’s also important to not lose sight of the employee experience as they play a critical role in combating customer churn.

As we wade through our current environment, retaining and improving revenue is multi-faceted. Ultimately a 360-degree view of the customer experience will have the most bang for the buck. Are you holistically looking at your organization? Or are you breaking it into chunks based on ownership by department?

As organizations grow, it’s important to look at all these areas (Churn, Sales Win-Loss, Customer Engagement Surveys, Employee Engagement Surveys) from a holistic perspective because all of the pieces intertwine together to create the customer experience. I’m going to focus on the role your internal customers, also known as your employees, play in your organization’s success and how you can focus on your employee’s engagement to retain customers.

Importance of Focusing on Internal Customers

There is a direct correlation between employee engagement and customer experience. How your employees engage with customers will directly affect your bottom line. If you’re not paying attention to that, especially in a strained market, it will affect your overall outcome.

For example, how many times have you heard a customer complain saying, “my CSM is too busy” or “they have too much on their plate” or “I can tell that they don’t have time for me?” How do you fix this perception to help retain customers at this tumultuous time?

Often, internal customers (employees) become disengaged when they do not feel like they are heard by their managers or company leadership. Now more than ever, we need to treat our employees as our internal customers.

The Role of Employee Engagement Surveys

Initial feelings can be captured via an Employee Engagement Survey with the right questions included. Individual ongoing conversations is also a great way to start an open dialogue between leaders and employees to move the needle. Ask open-ended questions to understand where your employee’s perceptions currently fit in relation to the above statements. As your employees (internal customers) feel that these key areas are being met, your external customers will also feel the shift.

There are 4 key ways that we can improve and secure our employees’ engagement:

Do they feel supported?
⦁ My manager/leadership has my back.
⦁ My teammates share my values.
⦁ I’m recognized for my contributions to the team.
⦁ I have the tools that I need to do my job effectively.

Do they feel empowered?
⦁ My manager encourages me to take risks.
⦁ I have the power to do what is right for my client.
⦁ I have a chance to use my strengths at work.

Do they feel their job has purpose?
⦁ My company has a mission that I am passionate about.
⦁ I clearly understand what is expected of me.

Do they feel there is a future for them in your organization?
⦁ I feel there is a path for growth at my organization.
⦁ I have confidence in the future of my company.
⦁ I am challenged to grow in my work environment.

Focus on maintaining (or even increasing) the dialogue with your employees. Provide different ways for them to be candid about their experience, as it’s more important than ever that they are delivering a strong service experience to both internal and external customers.