In every business unit; there are two basic customers; the internal and external customers. What every business should know is that, while the external customer is important, the internal customer is much more important. But, why is the internal customer so relevant and more often neglected? The internal customer is the first customer of the business, they attract the external customers by meeting their needs at organizational profit. Thereby satisfying both the organization and the external customers.
To help us further understand; let us identify the internal customer. The internal customer is the EMPLOYEE of the firm.
But as author Simon Sinek said, “Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.”
Now let`s use this story to clarify the point;
John works for NOKIA, but he is dissatisfied with the job and the treatment he gets from the Employers of labour. The company does not care about John`s welfare, all they focus is productivity and profit. John even patronizes Samsung; he has friends who works with SAMSUNG. Each day, after work they hang-out and relax; during which they discuss the business of the day. John`s friends loved it at SAMSUNG and would always say wonderful things about the additional attention the company gives them, and the sincere interest SAMSUNG has for them and their families. The positive things, John`s friends have often said about SAMSUNG was what led to John changing His phone brand to SAMSUNG from NOKIA.
Overtime, John spend more time expressing his disdain for his Job at NOKIA and even during office hour encourages people to deal with SAMSUNG. Despite John`s productivity at NOKIA, he was not efficiently utilized, because he was not internally motivated to do his best. This affected the way John related with the Customers of Nokia.
There is bound to be a big problem to the business unit, when employees are not treated right. Any maltreatment, a business gives to an employee will cost them customers and eventually lead to loss. Remember the worth of ONE customer, whether internal or external, they must be looked after with great earnestness, they should feel appreciated and welcomed, then, they will be delighted, when they are delighted, they will be loyal, when they are loyal, business will BOOM.
“This is obvious when you think about it.
Your employees are the ones who control all communications with your customers.
They are responsible for maintaining your business’ values, providing great service, and making good on the promises you make to customers.
And if they don’t like their jobs, negativity and resentment will propagate.
However, if they love their jobs, they’re far more likely to spread positivity and go the extra mile for customers – like the employees at Zappos regularly do.
As Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of the Virgin Group, said, “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.
After your employees, it’s time to obsess over your customers.”- Tom Joseph Law|Oberlo
On 26/02/2018); INC.COM reported how an Employee`s unpaid earnings impaired an organization; How a $608 Mistake Cost This Business More Than $40,000 ? Read extract below;
“If you underpaid an employee by $608, how much should you have to pay to rectify the mistake? $608? $1,216 to punish you for making the error? Both those things seem somewhat reasonable, and, indeed, Precision Demolition paid the defendant twice his actual lost wages. But it also had to fork over $41,333.70 in attorney’s fees.
This was actually not what the attorneys asked for–they asked for $141,236.50 in attorney’s fees, $1,272.30 in nontaxable expenses, and $10,568.82 in taxable costs, and the court cut it down by doing some calculations based on what an attorney should be paid in the local area.
Is this fair?
Some of you may say yes, evil horrible businesses try to steal wages from unsuspecting and naive employees. Wage theft is the idea that businesses purposely underpay employees, often by labeling them as exempt from overtime when the law says the employee qualifies for overtime pay.
However, the law that lays out who is eligible for overtime pay is an 80-year-old law called the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that is complex and doesn’t apply to today’s workplaces. Most companies, especially small-business owners, are trying to comply with the laws but make mistakes.
When attorney’s fees are so high, it makes sense for businesses to settle almost immediately, regardless of whether they broke the law. Taking it to court means not only do businesses have the guaranteed cost of their own legal bills, but if they lose, they’ll be handed a big bill. (Of course, if the business wins, the employee who brought the claim doesn’t have to pay the company’s legal bills. It only goes one way.)…” Read More
The Customer is the essence why you are in business. They are the Lifeblood of the Business. Take them away and there is no business.
Open, honest communication is the best foundation for any relationship, but remember that at the end of the day it’s not what you say or what you do, but how you make people feel that matters the most. – Tony Hsieh
