The Power of the Internal Customer

The customer is always right. If you've been around the American marketplace long enough, you should be familiar with the phrase. It's the idea upon which the best restaurants and companies look to pride themselves to ensure all patrons are treated with utmost care and respect, and when entangled in a complaint, to side reasonably with the customer. This heavy emphasis on serving external customers makes sense: they are the ones who sustain our company and profit margins.

Yet there is growing awareness within corporate circles of the need to address another group: internal customers. Internal customers are officially defined as those who are directly connected to your company and most likely work within the company. Think of them as your employees and stakeholders. It might seem strange to think of your employees as customers since you're paying for their services. But the employees you hire are choosing to ascribe to and consume some sort of culture and work environment provided by your company. And if it is not a good environment, your workers will be less motivated to turn in their best work and could ultimately bolt for another gig.

Winning companies understand the power of the internal customer. In his book, Delivering Happiness, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh mentions that "a company's core values ultimately define the company's character and brand. For individuals, character is destiny. For organizations, culture is destiny.” Hsieh is famous for creating a fun and refreshing work culture which landed Zappos on Fortune’s list of "The Best Companies to Work For." When you start at the root of creating the right infrastructure for the internal customer to succeed, then the natural result is better quality service and product for the external customer. Before you know it, employees will go the extra mile to ensure clients are satisfied.

So, how do you empower your internal customers to achieve more? What plans or services could you provide to help your employees thrive?

Here are three tips to help guide you in the right direction:

1) Provide effective mentorship throughout the organization

When certain employees aren't performing, lack of qualifications or motivation usually come up as popular reasons. But another reason might also be tied to your failure to set them up properly to succeed . Mentoring involves counseling and training the employee to develop their professional skill sets. When you provide good coaching, you are effectively setting a roadmap for your employee's career development. This relationship will help groom employees to become new leaders while fostering trust and confidence between both parties. 

2) Allow a forum for open and constructive feedback

When you create an environment where honesty is valued, then you can expect work quality to improve and the environment to be more harmonious. Processes will be improved, backbiting will be reduced, and grievances will be settled. Employees will also feel more valued for their thoughts and opinions, regardless of title or pay. At Liferay HQ, nobody owns an office or cubicle, including the C-levels. We all work amongst one another, sitting in rows of desks without walls, free to go back and forth with those around us. This will also curb "groupthink" which can greatly hinder growth and innovation. The best ideas in the room sometimes come from the person whom you may least expect.  

3) Show them you really care through action

Appreciation goes a long way and comes in many different forms. It could be as simple as acknowledging an employee's stellar work through an email or as elaborate as throwing a company-wide party. The important thing is that your employees know and feel how much you value them. As you recognize their unique contributions as both a worker and person, the work atmosphere will begin to feel more like family and less like a sterile office space where people just clock in and clock out. Different teams and departments will get each other's back and band together to achieve one common goal: an ultimate win for all.

Providing a culture in which employees can thrive and excel is just as important as serving the external customer. The corporations that understand this will be hiring, growing and keeping talent far above the rest of the competition—which will greatly benefit the external customer, too.

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