Contact Us

Improve Client Satisfaction By Improving Employee Satisfaction – Here’s How

  • By Andrea Schlapia
  • |
  • June 4, 2013
Photo courtesy ©iStock/Getty Images/Thinkstock
Photo courtesy ©iStock/Getty Images/Thinkstock

Client satisfaction survey time! Or, should we say, employee satisfaction survey time? The two go hand in hand. Research shows, happy, engaged and satisfied employees will increase client satisfaction and retention levels, leading to an increase in your bottom line.

I love the book, Happy Hour Is 9 to 5 by author Alexander Kjerulf. Kjerulf, a self-proclaimed chief happiness officer, lecturer and consultant on happiness at work, says, “happy employees make the customers happy’. It all starts with your hiring and onboarding process. We have all heard, “hire for attitude, not for skill’. If your hiring and onboarding process does not incorporate an “attitude check’, now is the time to rethink the process and review the attitudes of your existing team. Most employees are waiting for the “5:01 Happy Hour”, business owners and managers need to turn the happy hour around.

Happiness & Commitment – How They Relate

Dr. Andrew Shatte, is the founder and President of Phoenix Life Academy, a company specializing  in measuring and training resilience, says, “if you want happy customer service representatives, commitment is critical’. Shatte adds, “What is happiness, anyway? In a workplace setting, many experts say that engagement or connection to work may be what ultimately leads to happiness. Make someone connected to their job, and happiness will follow. Trying to directly impact an employee’s happiness is going to be an extremely tricky thing to do. The crucial thing is to have people who are truly connected to their jobs—they can’t think of a better place to be for those 8 to 10 hours a day.” Read more about employee engagement and commitment in our blog,  Put A Ring On It For Employee Engagement.

Ensuring that your customer service representatives care about your company requires first defining your corporate culture—and making sure its tenets are concrete enough to be hired and fired for, says Zappos.com’s, Aaron Magness.

Tying it all Together

Mid-year is a great time to review your firm’s standard operating procedures. Start with the glue holding your firm together, your team and your clients. Evaluate satisfaction levels across the board by linking client and employee satisfaction surveys together to reach your firm’s overall goal — employee satisfaction, client satisfaction and an increased bottom line.

According to a white paper by the Corporate Leadership Council, 40 to 80 percent of customer satisfaction and loyalty is determined by the customer-employee relationship.

Here are a few related articles on employee satisfaction and improving your client service:

2 Part Question –   Does your hiring process evaluate attitude as well as skill? Do you have a process linking client satisfaction to employee satisfaction levels? Let us know – Leave Us A Comment Here

Are you just getting by or are you getting better? Get started today!

Author Bio

Andrea Schlapia, RCC™, HCS, sHRBP, is the Founder and CEO of Ironstone, which represents the culmination of her 20+ year career within the financial services industry. Her experience began as a financial advisor evolving into a consultant coach for advisors entering the field. This ignited her passion to support others through learning and development of best practices in order to achieve substantial results. To this end, she followed her desire into positions of senior-level practice management specialists for Dreyfus, Prudential, and DWS Investments prior to the realization of Ironstone.  Andrea’s focus is on practice management strategies to enhance and improve both business and personal life. Andrea identifies 4 key performance areas known as the Fundamental 4™, which are required to design, develop, and sustain a successful business. Through coaching sessions and speaking engagements, she captivates her audience with interactive, high-energy presentations which are built with “how-to” strategies resulting in real-world implementation for significant impact. Andrea has been featured in multiple publications and audio broadcasts as a specialist and distinguished spokeswoman in the financial industry.

AndreaSchlapia