Ways to Keep Clients and Employees Happy at the Same Time: The Ultimate Win/Win!

There are two schools of thought when it comes to company cultures. The first is total commitment to servicing clients. The customer is always right, and employees must do everything they can to go above and beyond, creating a great buying experience and promoting repeat business. The second is to create an atmosphere of support and teamwork, where people are expected to make mistakes, learn from them, and learn from each other.

Both approaches have their inherent pros and cons. Customer service is immensely important, but if the bottom line is the company’s only concern, staff may feel like they are only a commodity, and become disengaged. On the other hand, if too much time is spent coaching and rewarding employees the sense of urgency to serve clients suffers, and deadlines may be missed, leading to lost opportunities.

Do these approaches have to be mutually exclusive? Absolutely not! Let’s look at how combining the best of each practice creates the ultimate win/win: happy clients and happy employees!

Create Mentorships

Most companies have training periods where new employees “learn the ropes.” This is obviously great and necessary for a new employee to learn procedures, software, and so on, but often the training ends abruptly after a certain number of days. They may not learn everything they need during training, like nuanced approaches to client interaction or customer service goals. You can’t afford to keep them in training, especially if that means pulling a seasoned employee off their tasks.

But what you can do is establish a mentorship program where that seasoned employee agrees to meet with the new one once a week for a half hour, hour, or lunch at a set time. They can have a one-on-one where the trainee can bring up anything they have questions about, and the senior employee can guide them. This is very helpful to serve as the early stages to train workers for management roles as well.

Encourage Clients and Employees to Know Each Other

Having your staff recognize and be familiar with key clients is another great step to a win/win environment. It gives the client the impression that your whole organization is working for them, and they will start to view your company as more of a partner than a provider. It helps employees in two major ways: it shows them that their employer values their contributions enough to “show them off” (or at least trust them) around customers, and it helps them think of the clients as real people, not just names and numbers. This will have a positive effect on their efforts, as they will not want to let down someone they feel they know.

It is important to monitor the interactions to a point, to make sure that clients do not take advantage, harass, or bully staff about their projects. Likewise, you need to make sure employees are speaking appropriately to clients and being respectful and guarded about the company when necessary. Because of this, it’s best for managers to facilitate these interactions and model good behavior early on.

Celebrate Successes!

Success breeds the ultimate win/win: a chance to celebrate! It doesn’t have to be a lavish party at an expensive sushi bar. Many people just want a little credit and recognition for a job well done. Take two minutes out of a day to ring a bell to get your staff’s attention and commend someone when they go above and beyond. Write handwritten notes for people who do exemplary work or help others.

On the client side, thank-you-notes and small gifts go a long way. Follow them on social media and read their trade magazines. If they receive an award in their industry, congratulate them. Always thank them for their business.

For clients and employees alike, being acknowledged and respected in these ways will go a long way to making them happy. Happy employees stay and grow with the company. Happy clients keep the company’s doors open.