Many organizations operate under the premise that everything revolves around the customer. They preach customer centricity and build endless programs focused on the front line delivering an exceptional customer experience. Well, that may not be the best way to do things.
Now, before your feathers get ruffled, let me explain.
Yes. Your customers are certainly important.
Yes. You should be engaging your front line employees, eventually.
Yes. You should be doing everything you can to create a positive CX, one that leads to customer loyalty.
But building a foundation for a strong CX does not in fact start with the customer.
It starts on the inside, with your managers.
Your managers, one of your biggest assets, are in the trenches. Their role is multi-faceted. They are expected to be effective leaders and also to engage the front line in the exact same way they expect the front line to engage the customer. Managers are, in fact, the choke point or the accelerant to creating a great CX and it all depends on how they treat your front line employees.
By focusing on the customers first, you are ignoring your biggest internal lever of success. The customer experience can never and will never exceed the employee experience, and your managers have full control over the employee experience. It’s kind of like working backwards.
So instead, go to your managers first. Help them understand not only how, but also WHY it’s crucial to engage your employees as if they were customers and provide them with a stellar experience. Provide your managers with the tools, resources and knowledge to bring everything full circle. Employee experience begets customer loyalty.
If you reverse your order and do it this way instead, the power that permeates from your managers will bleed into your workforce and then organically make its way to your customers. It’s a magical cycle that results in an impactful and meaningful customer experience.
Give it a try. You might just have one of those aha moments!
