The Connection Between Loyal Customers And Engaged Employees

Sandy Rogers

Every organization covets loyal customers. The ones that return time after time, buy more products or services and tell their friends about their great experience. Loyal customers are the lifeblood of a company.

While competitive pricing, location, and product demand all drive customer foot traffic and business, there is another piece of the puzzle required to earn and drive customer loyalty — employee engagement.

Employee engagement is essential. It is a prerequisite to earning fierce customer loyalty. This is because the customer experience rarely exceeds the employee experience. If the employee is excited about coming to work and has been put into a position to enrich customer's lives, good things happen for customers.

Here’s the problem though, front-line employees – the ones who are customer-facing, who have the most impact on the customer experience – tend to be the lowest-paid, least trained, and least engaged employees.

Like loyal customers, loyal employees love you, talk you up, and recommend you to their friends. They stay with you and serve your customers with zeal and energy. They are, by far, the most critical factor in gaining customer loyalty.

As a leader who oversees these front-line employees, you are the linchpin in building team culture and inspiring everyone to do their best for customers. You’ve got to get your people excited about coming to work and put them into a position to enrich the lives of customers.

The next time you’re on the sales floor or checking stock in the backroom or doing general observations, take note of how your front-line employees – the ones who are the most customer-facing – interact with customers. Do they appear helpful? Are they finding solutions for customers? Are they energetic? How do customers react to this interaction? Do your customers seem apprehensive to approach and ask questions?

If you can engage and unleash the heart and energy of your most customer-facing employees, the loyalty of your customers will extend far beyond your competitive pricing, location, and product demand.

Engage your team to win the heart of every customer with Leading Customer Loyalty. Register for a complimentary webcast today and learn how companies get their frontline teams to act in a way that builds customer loyalty and drives faster growth.

About the Author

Sandy Rogers leads FranklinCovey’s Loyalty Practice. He was previously Senior Vice President at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. During his 14 years there, Sandy managed the turnaround of the London, England operation and led the teams that developed Enterprise’s marketing strategy and system for improving customer service across all branches. Before Enterprise, Sandy worked in marketing at Apple Computer and at P&G. He is graduate of Duke and Harvard Business School.
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