You Can’t Have Loyal Customers Without Loyal Employees

As experienced small-business owners know, it costs
much more to acquire new customers than it does to keep
the ones you already have. You can create loyal customers by
offering special preferred-customer sales and
promotions, rewarding repeat purchases with discounts or
additional free merchandise, and responding to customer
requests for items to be stocked.

by Jeffrey Moses

http://www.nfib.com/object/IO_16649.html

These activities and others will help create repeat
business, but each of these has its limitations. They
are, after all, one-time or, at best, two-time events.
You need customers every day, but you can have a
special preferred-customer sale only once or twice a
year.

The foundation to creating a wide base of loyal
customers is the loyalty and commitment of your
employees — your sales staff, your managers, your
receptionists and cashiers, your technicians or repair
staff, your accountants or bookkeepers and all others
who come into contact in any way with customers. The
more loyal your employees, the more likely they are to
create repeat, loyal customers.

Loyal employees are those who have made an emotional
commitment to remaining with your business for the
long-term. This commitment translates into a financial
bond: employees know that the better the company does,
the more secure their jobs will be. This knowledge will
enliven every interaction they have with customers.
Special sales and other activities are worthwhile, but
the ongoing, day-to-day enthusiasm and commitment of
loyal employees will do far more to create loyalty
among customers.

Loyal employees are creative; they look for ways to
create sales and to satisfy customer needs. Loyal
employees are dedicated; they go out of their way to
create extra value for customers, even to the extent of
working into the evening and weekends when required.
Loyal employees look to the long term, not just to the
immediate sale. They realize that doing whatever it
takes to give customers a positive shopping and buying
experience will strengthen their own futures. In other
words, loyal employees spontaneously do just what a
business needs for growth: they show customers that
they care. That, in every instance, is the most
important criteria for establishing loyal customers.

The creation of loyal employees is both a science and
an art. Proven ways to foster an atmosphere of loyalty
among employees include:

* Long-term financial motivation. Profit sharing,
stock options and employee ownership plans are all
viable options.

* Recognition for accomplishments. Employees need,
above all, to feel needed valued and recognized as part
of the team.

* Opportunity for career growth within the company.
This includes both financial growth and the chance to
take on more challenging, personally rewarding
responsibilities. Whenever possible, promote from
within.

* Close professional and personal interaction with
management and company ownership. Employees who are
recognized and personally known to management are much
more likely to feel valuable. Employees should be a
part of all company meetings, parties and group
activities.

* A company culture that promotes sharing of ideas,
team effort and the recognition that individual
accomplishment is good for everyone. Companies that
develop a culture that promotes selfishness or
backbiting will have few loyal employees.

* A culture in which employees are not overly
fearful of making mistakes. Enthusiasm is stifled when
occasional mistakes are dealt with harshly.

* Showing employees how their tasks affect the
company’s bottom line. When employees understand how
valuable their jobs are to the overall success of the
company, they will naturally become more dedicated to
excellence in all they do.

* Inspiring and rewarding creativity. When employees
find a better way to do something, reward them for
their ingenuity. Don’t allow your company’s chain of
command to become stagnant and unreceptive. Make it
easy for new ideas to filter upward. Only when managers
(and you as the owner) are aware of new ideas and open
to implementing them, can the creativity of all
employees find expression company-wide.