'Your Customers are not first. Your Staff are first. Look after your Staff and they will look after your Customers'

Richard Branson made this observation over 30 years ago, long before the concept of 'Internal' customer service or ‘employee engagement’ was conceived. Is there a modern take on this or was Branson’s observation as relevant today as it was then.?

I am not saying that everything Richard Branson did was magical but there is serious value in what he says about employee experience and its impact on success.

“Just like a flower needs water, people flourish when they are praised. Even the finest criticism can be so damaging especially if it comes from the person running the company,” he said. “People know when they haven’t done something right, they don’t need to be told".

All of this is simple guidance and great advice but here are the questions -

Is this easy to achieve?

Research in the past ten years would back up strongly Bransons’ thoughts but why are more companies and organisations not following this way of working?

Why is internal customer service so broken and away behind where it needs to be?

Is there a cost-effective and efficient solution to internal culture gaps which can support market share?

The Experience Economy requires businesses to improve their overall offer and to stop relying on the product, service or price to carry the day. This means that the customer experience now takes centre stage, and this only works successfully if the internal culture and experience is at the level of excellence.

Difficult conversations may need to be had and key measurements are required to check where the internal service culture sits in any organisation. This initial pain is often the start of a journey of immense discovery and recovery. The truth sets us free and allows us to become better versions of the company we were yesterday. The Experience Economy is 24 years old having come into existence around the year 2000. It is predicted by the academics and observers to last to the mid-point of the century 2050. Pine and Gilmore are in the process of re-writing the observations and by adding the ‘Transformation Economy’ to the idea.

The starting point of any fix is measurement. Measure your employee satisfaction without fear. Do so anonymously and with an independent source. If you don’t measure it someone else will and the cost of doing it is 10% of the cost of not doing it in many cases.

Staff in a post-pandemic and digitally disrupted world want to be treated fairly and with a sense of purpose in their work. Pathway is important, recognition has a value, empowerment and life-long learning are good for self-esteem and aspirations. Happier staff create happier customers and this does not date.

The business case for putting your staff first and customers second has long since arrived…..embrace the concept.

Charlie Boyle

www.cseireland.ie

[email protected]