A toxic culture within an organisation is like a baby crying in church, it should be carried out immediately. Toxicity if left unattended to can spread its bad energy beyond an organisation walls into the community.
Satisfied employees create satisfied customers.
Internal customers are a critical competitive advantage that should be treated with utmost respect and care. Their actions, power the brand and growth of the organisation to dizzy heights if managed well. The tech industry is one market that knows the value of taking care of competent and innovative internal customers as its family members.
The invaluable knowledge and experience possessed by these customers make them the wheels of any organisation and can drive organisations to doom or success. An organisation without proper wheels cannot move forward or grow.
Who are these internal customers?
Internal customers are people that work for a company or have a special relationship with that company and these include employees, owners, and the organisation’s representatives. They may not purchase the organisation’s products or services, but they play a critical role in making and delivering the final product or service to the final consumer. For instance, Diamond mine workers may not be able to purchase the diamonds that they produce but their services are important in the final outcome of the diamonds from the minefields.
Employers tend to focus more on the needs and expectations of external customers than the internal customer, when in fact these two have a symbiotic relationship in that without one there would not be another. The satisfaction of both customers wheels the organisation to success.
But why should organisations satisfy the internal customer beyond the paycheck when that customer does not directly bring revenue like what happens with the external customer? Studies have proved that there are a lot of benefits an organisation can accrue from satisfied internal customers, such as quality of work, better customer satisfaction, organisation cohesiveness, streamlining of processes, employee retention, free word-of-mouth marketing, and free brand advocates.
Every internal customer on an organisation’s team is important because they have a strong influence over some or all of the organisation’s customer relationships. Internal customers who are confident of their organisation’s products can easily recommend, refer and convert their connections to be the next organisation’s customers.
With internal customers, there is an intra-organisation exchange of service and ideas and this results in a service profit chain. According to Heskertt (1994), the service profit chain also goes beyond internal customers to external customers and if done well can integrate internal service quality and employee satisfaction, plus, external service quality and customer satisfaction and profitability.
Organisations that know how to designate and remunerate their internal customers usually experience longevity in terms of customer stay at the organisation. This boost morale, motivation, integrity and productivity. In most cases such employees are content with their jobs and are not likely candidates of corruption.
Internal customers who are treated as gofers and have personal contributions prejudiced, personal growth suppressed, look for alternative organisations that value their worth and are willing to give them an opportunity. This is usually a blow to the current employer as better brains are likely to be taken by competitors.
Organisations must feed the competence of customers with potential by giving them the required platform and enabling resources to exercise what they are capable of doing. Most of these internal customers have great novel ideas awaiting nurturing and an opportunity to germinate into seeds of money for the organisation.
Research has proved that internal customers usually abandon managers or supervisors and not organisations. Supervisors or managers who stifle their subordinates’ growth for fear that they may excel better than them and take over their positions push away these customers. It is not a bad thing for organisations to once in a while engage the services of independent assessors to appraise internal customers on their performance and make suitable recommendations.
Modern businesses prioritise servicing the needs of both its internal and external customers. There is always a huge difference in the quality of work by a customer who feels his worthy is recognized by the organisation and that of a customer who feels unappreciated. A pat on the back at the right time by a supervisor goes a long way in enhancing the quality of work to be produced and it increases the customer’s self-esteem.
On the other hand, bad managers are good at bruising the internal customer’s egos instead of complementing the work. This is a wrong footing to the customer that is supposed to be driving the wheels of success for the organisation. They nag their customers until they suffer from high blood pressure and are unable to take care of the business.
Take care of your internal customers so that you take care of your business
Organisations that have high labour turnover, hire and fire internal customers at a rapid rate. This is bad for the organisation’s brand because they carry a bad employer tag that they cannot retain employees. Customers who have invaluable experience shun being hired by such organisations because there is no job security thus, they tend to lose out on quality customers to rival organisations.
Businesses must meet both the explicit and implicit expectations of their customers. Recognition done at the right time for the right reasons to the deserving internal customers compliment the quality of work to be produced by the organisation.
Delighted internal customers exude the same to the external customers, much to their satisfaction. They are self-driven to do better and are willing to go the extra mile in serving their external customers. Getting a tip is no stranger as external customers gladly appreciate good service.
Cresencia Marjorie Chiremba is a marketing enthusiast with a strong passion for customer service. For comments, suggestions, and training, she can be reached at customersuccessconsultancy@gmail.com or on 0712 979 461, 0719 978 335
