The Easiest Way to Boost Your Company’s Bottom Line
Everybody answers to somebody. You may technically be your own boss, but if you have customers (and I hope you do!) or stockholders, then you have at least one party that pays your salary. For all intents and purposes, your customer base is your employer. Ideally, you want to elicit favorable feedback and repeat business from those customers and/or stockholders, not just a paycheck.
But what if you don’t personally have regular interaction with your customers? Is there a hands-on way you can positively impact your customer’s experience? The short answer is: Yes. There is an easy way to improve the customer experience your company provides and consequently boost your bottom line.
What Motivates You, Motivates Me
People, as you know, can be intrinsically and extrinsically motivated. Let’s assume you pay your employees well. Money is certainly not a bad motivator, but it’s just not enough to get the best work out of your most valuable resources.
Your employees will respond positively to your recognition of their hard work, even if that recognition comes in the form of a simple “thank you.” But if you send them a note or mention to them about how diligent they are, how well they represent the company, how nicely their last project turned out or how successfully they are meeting their goals, your ROI on these kinds of compliments will be immense because they cost you nothing, yet they do so much for employee morale.
As great as these extrinsic rewards are for motivating people, they still don’t quite produce the desired outcomes. Intrinsic rewards are much more powerful than extrinsic rewards — including money — in growing motivation. You have the ability to encourage and develop this growth within your employees.
Go Beyond “You’re Swell, Betty”
Don’t underestimate your employees’ desires for autonomy in decision-making. Give them more authority over matters that really don’t need management involvement. When people are empowered to use their own judgement and knowledge in addressing customers’ needs or when faced with procedural or operational issues that are within their capacity to fix, they feel valued. A little trust goes a long way. Not only do people feel appreciated when faith is put in their competency to tackle a problem, but they also feel pride in having accomplished something.
Your employees also want to share their opinions, ideas and observations. They are already doing so with co-workers, which isn’t helpful to the company unless those ideas are shared with those who can put them into action. Change can only happen when the right people are informed that better approaches exist. You could be losing productivity and money if you aren’t tapping into your company’s knowledge bank: the expert advise of your employees.
Here’s the catch: listening to your employees will be appreciated by them as long as they feel they are really being heard. The moment they realize their thoughts and ideas are consistently being brushed off, they will become disgruntled faster than you can say, “Goodbye, morale” — and much less satisfied with their position than they were when no one leaned on their expertise or experience.
You may not directly interact with your customers, but you do directly impact how your employees interact with them. By making your employees feel respected, valued, competent and accomplished, you are providing them with the greatest fuel they need to be more motivated, therefore, more productive. In turn, they will provide customers with better service and a better perception of your company, giving your company new and repeat business. The sum of all of this: a healthier bottom line.
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