Mike Meisenheimer is a marketing principal at The Alexander Group, a revenue growth management consultancy.
getty
In our new era of digital transformation, there’s a particular phrase that has become ubiquitous: customer experience. What originated in the early 1900s as “the customer is always right” has evolved into something more nuanced and profound. Any successful company recognizes the imperative to appeal to customers, but today’s brands are framing this imperative as more of a holistic, long-term process of relationship building and nurturing. Customers, for their part, have happily grown accustomed to being the gravitational center of the business universe, and a whopping 79% say they would switch brands if it meant receiving better service elsewhere.
But what (or who) determines whether customer experience is positive or negative? As anyone who’s ever called a customer service hotline can tell you, it’s the company’s employees who ultimately have an outsized impact on customer relations and perception. From phone reps to sales teams to behind-the-scenes marketing and tech support, an organization’s employees are responsible for the context and outcome of every customer interaction. If business leaders are truly invested in boosting and maintaining a positive customer experience, they must first take a hard look at their employee experience.
When it comes to driving positive employee experience, there are two primary avenues to pursue: building a cultural framework that makes success possible and creating an environment where talent is empowered to thrive.
A cultural framework makes success attainable.
For the companies that endure over time, their mission makes success matter, but their culture makes success possible. One invaluable takeaway from the past few years has been the importance of a dynamic and constructive company culture. Workers who feel positively connected to their organization’s culture are more likely to stay and support the company—and are therefore more likely to contribute to a positive customer experience.
When employees feel disconnected from the company culture, they express their disappointment and displeasure with utmost clarity—by quitting. Employee experience was at the epicenter of the Great Resignation; MIT Sloan found that a toxic culture was ten times more likely than low compensation to predict whether a worker would leave an organization.
If a company is known to have a poor corporate culture, they’re likely to experience a kind of double jeopardy whereby both its talent and customers flee in droves. In 2017, Uber found itself in a culture crisis when a former engineer wrote an exposé highlighting sexual misconduct within the company. That same year, the rideshare giant faced a lawsuit alleging it had defrauded both drivers and customers. Uber’s failure to create a culture inclusive of its employees directly translated into a loss of customers. Meanwhile, Lyft, Uber’s top competitor, ultimately doubled its ride volume that same year. When one company’s culture and public perception fall apart, its competitors can easily swoop in to pick up the pieces.
How can companies build a culture that enables success? It boils down to walking the walk. Yes, organizations should list their corporate values on their About pages, but they must also practice what they preach. Launch initiatives to keep leaders accountable. Implement DEI programs not only to encourage employee inclusivity and diversity but also to help leadership identify blind spots in hiring, management and customer engagement. Embrace continuous improvement and tackle big challenges. Be honest with your employees. Don’t be afraid to tell them you don’t have all the answers. By leading with candor, introspection and energy, management can do wonders to make employees feel that they are a part of a larger mission and that their continued presence really matters. Employees that want to stay with the company for the long haul will make sure their customers do, too.
Empowering employees makes success happen.
Building and sustaining a healthy, welcoming culture is non-negotiable for enduring businesses, but culture alone isn’t enough to drive lasting success that optimizes both EX and CX. If leaders want their employees to provide the best possible experience for the customer, they must thread the needle between expecting accountability and offering support when needed.
Anyone who’s ever had a bad manager knows all too well that a leader can make or break a great employee experience. Bad managers are almost just as likely to drive workers away as a toxic culture, with one survey finding 56% of recent or soon-to-be quitters citing “poor management” as their reason. On the flip side, good managers can prove transformational.
Consider the grocery retailer Trader Joe’s, long renowned for its excellent customer service. It’s no coincidence the brand also makes concerted efforts to drive positive employee experience as well. Workers report that leadership sets high standards and empowers their team to take ownership of both success and mistakes. The executive team even goes so far as to entrust purchasing and planning to their individual store managers, who know their specific neighborhood and clientele best. Workers have the freedom to take chances and offer bespoke innovative solutions for their customers. By demonstrating such a high degree of trust in their employees, Trader Joe’s executives help unlock their teams’ potential and create confidence in the brand. Knowing that leadership has their back no matter what, employees translate that confidence back to the customer.
When leadership puts its faith in its teams—and does so vocally—they remind employees of the reasons why they sought the job in the first place. Employees who feel supported and empowered to tap into their creativity and passion will feel more connected to the company mission, be more productive and serve as stronger brand ambassadors for the customers.
For all intents and purposes, CX = EX.
Workers have spoken. They need more from their employers than just a 9 to 5 grind. They need a meaningful employee experience in which their company’s culture aligns with their values, and they feel supported by their leaders. To bridge the gap between EX and CX, leaders must do a lot more listening. But once they do, they’ll discover another piece of the puzzle of what allows businesses to endure over time.
Forbes Business Development Council is an invitation-only community for sales and biz dev executives. Do I qualify?
