Best Ways to Inspire Employee and Customer Loyalty
What are some of the main purposes behind any business? I say “purposes” because it does serve a variety of them, not just one. Of course, the obvious one is to generate revenue for everybody involved - from business owner(s) to employees to janitors. Even collaborative businesses have their benefits. Entrepreneurs invest their time, funds, energy, and passion into their companies, so having an idea and watching it grow and get realized is a major satisfaction in itself also. Anyhow, it’s important for everybody that business is doing well, and it is achieved when communities, customers, and employees do well. A company should serve all the stakeholders, which is especially important for companies where customers get in touch with many of the employees (e.g. butchers, cashiers, and other people that interact with customers on a daily basis). These employees are the ones who convey a positive attitude about the company, develop relationships with customers, and have deep functional business expertise. Whether a customer will keep coming back or not depends on these employees, so it’s of utmost importance for them to be loyal and happy. These are some of the ways you can inspire employee and customer loyalty. Best Ways to Inspire Employee and Customer Loyalty #1 Treat Them like Family Maintain a close emotional connection with your workers and behave as if each one of them is a family member. Make sure you communicate openly with them, hold regular staff meetings and keep them informed with the on-going progress and problem situations. Share concerns and wins with your employees, but also take a break every now and then to spend some quality time with your them – off-site meetings, team building gatherings, occasional happy hours, or whatever you think of. These kinds of gatherings can boost their morale and even improve fractured relationships. #2 Offer Fair and Competitive Compensation When employees are paid less than they could earn doing the same job at some other place, they feel devalued. They also expect to be paid as much as their colleagues who do the same work, regardless of whether they may be better at negotiating salaries. By publishing everyone’s compensation, you can establish competitive fairness. #3 Keep the Overhead Low Productivity can be boosted by long-term employee loyalty. Employees who have been with the company long enough have gained enough experience (regarding many levels of the business) before reaching their current leadership positions. This means that they are capable of operating efficiently from a staffing perspective. #4 Maintaining Low Prices Customers pay attention to the quality of a product, but eventually price is the one that determines whether they’ll purchase it or not. If you manage to keep the quality up and prices low, your reputation among customers will stay flawless, keeping them loyal. Make sure you don’t have any debt, because prices can’t be kept low if you have to make monthly debt payments. #5 Gift Cards One of the most popular ways for saying “Thank you”, showing that you care, motivating your employees and maintaining loyalty amongst customers is by giving them gift cards. If you want to make a personal incentive worthwhile, then the gift should be presented in person. It is a pretty simple rewarding system, yet an effective one. Managers should just make sure that these gift cards, as rewards, don’t appear as a simple transactional agreement, but as sincere thanks for the employees’ great performance or customer loyalty. The best investment one can make as an entrepreneur and business leader is creating and sustaining the loyalty of customers and employees. Finding new employees and customers, for spreading the business, is important. However, you should realize that the existing ones are your bread and butter. Let that be the biggest lesson you’ll learn today as an entrepreneur.
4 Simple Ways to Keep Your Employees Motivated
Big corporations are much more flexible when it comes to employee productivity. Startup entrepreneurs, on the other hand, don’t have the luxury to employ non-productive individuals, because employee productivity is their company’s lifeblood in the first years of its development. Unmotivated and unsatisfied employees are easy to spot. They are nervous, edgy, less productive and they often skip work, for various reasons. Both corporate enterprises and small startups use many different ways to increase their team’s productiveness. Many entrepreneurs deal with this problem by cracking the whip, shortening deadlines and encouraging longer work hours. These measures usually fail to provide the desired result, and they increase employees’ discontent and absenteeism. In this article, we’ve listed several innovative ideas for improving your employees’ motivation and keeping your team satisfied and productive. Treat your employees like shareholders Shareholders have invested money in your entrepreneurship projects, while employees invest their work and time on a daily basis. Since many entrepreneurs say that employees are their company’s most valuable asset, they should start treating them as such. The best way to start is to share more information about your business with employees. If your business is more transparent, it’ll be easier for them to identify with your company and to find their own interest in your company’s expansion. Employees like to know that they’ve made a difference and that’s why they need to see the exact impact of their work. If you want to go a step further, you can introduce an employee stock ownership plan and allow your employees to buy your company shares at discount prices. Create a healthy work environment Most employees spend a large part of their lives in their offices, and that’s why you should make these rooms more friendly, appealing and comfortable. This way, your employees will be more eager to come to work every day, and their productivity will steadily grow. Office spaces shouldn’t be cramped, and employees need to have enough room to stretch and walk. Equip your offices with top notch HVAC systems that will adjust the room temperature and humidity. Offices should also have lots of natural light, and you should replace harsh fluorescent lights with low voltage light bulbs that produce light that’s easier and more pleasant for the eye. Some companies introduce chill out zones to their office environment. These rooms are used during work breaks, and they are filled with comfortable furniture and stress-relief games and arcades. Give them presents Everybody likes free stuff. Giving gifts to your employees on a regular basis can drastically improve their satisfaction. When choosing gifts for your employees, try to find useful and durable products. Think about products that will solve some of their problems. Various promotional products can help employees to improve their performance. For example, if your employees spend a lot of time in public transport, you can equip them with Kindle e-book readers. This way, they’ll be able to use this time for reading and improving their knowledge and skills. You can also give out branded shirts to your employees when organizing team building activities and other similar events. These will serve as a reminder of a great time they’ve had. Organize team building activities Team building improves social relations in the office and makes workplaces more cohesive. They also help entrepreneurs to build rapport and synergy among groups of employees. Teamwork and problem-solving skills employees master on these events can help them to increase their productivity. There are several types of team building events. Some companies take their employees on weekend trips that usually involve some recreational activities. Camping, hiking, rafting and other outdoor activities are the most popular ones, but some employers also organize paintball or laser tag events, sports matches between company departments or theme parties. There are also many team building activities you can do in an office environment. These include various games and problem-solving situations where employees need to rely on each other. In this article, we’ve focused on innovative ideas for motivating your employees. Corporate environment has its own mechanisms for improving performance and employee retention. Companies usually offer wide sets of incentives to their employees, which include: bonuses, raises, and promotions. These incentives can be very effective, but money is definitely not the most important criterion for employee motivation and productivity. A comfortable office environment, harmonious relations between colleagues and superiors, and lots of career advancement and training opportunities are the most important parameters for building a productive team of professionals, who support each other and love their job.