How to Be The Brand EMPLOYEES Can’t Live Without

A lot of companies talk all the time about how they can be the brand CUSTOMERS can’t live without. But one of the cornerstones of world-class customer experience is to be the brand EMPLOYEES can’t live without – because happy employees make happy customers.

In order to be the brand EMPLOYEES can’t live without, you need to focus on these areas:

1. Make your interview process ungameable. 

The biggest problem with the typical interview process is that most intelligent candidates can game it. Anyone can be on their best behavior for a short time, and most interview questions are predictable. 

The key to finding out a person’s true identity is how they act when they don’t know what they’re being judged on. Observe how they react when things don’t go according to plan. 

Group interviews are extremely productive and telling. Do your first round of interviews with a group of candidates. Ask the candidates questions that each have to take turns answering. The potential hire thinks they’re being judged on who has the best answer. But you’re actually judging them based on what they’re doing when it’s not their turn to answer. Are they disengaged and fidgety? Or are they listening, nodding, and smiling while the other person is answering the question? 

Measure them based on the 5 E’s during the interview process: 

• Eye contact 
• Ear-to-ear smile
• Enthusiasm
• Engagement with the interviewer
• Educated answers to questions

2. Become the business great employees seek out.

Stop trying to find great employees and focus on becoming the business great employees find. Make them feel that the paycheck is the least valuable thing they will ever receive from the company. 

Cultivate the internal culture amongst team members. Your workforce should be your best ambassador, as well as the guardians of your culture. They should see it as their responsibility to help coach and recognize the bad attitudes and poor performers.

3. Make your brand tattoo-worthy. 

Who would be crazy enough to get their company’s logo tattooed on their body? Well, there are a lot of them! And a person feels a powerful emotional connection to the brand when they feel part of an exclusive community and they relate to what the brand represents and stands for.

4. World-class starts at headquarters. 

World class starts at headquarters – your resource center, IT, marketing, HR, accounting, payroll, maintenance, shipping, etc. How well does your headquarters provide a great experience internally to your operations, employees, vendors, locations, and franchisees? Your corporate headquarters should be held to the same standard you expect of your customer-facing employees and be measured by internal customer satisfaction scores.

5. Be an energy giver, not an energy taker. 

There are two types of leaders: energy givers and energy suckers. Energy givers raise the confidence of everyone they come in contact with. They constantly show gratitude and thanks. They give everyone else the credit and believe in others. They are their employees’ biggest cheerleaders.

Energy givers find out what their employees’ goals are and help them achieve it. They are great listeners. They will walk through fire for those on their team and they practice what they preach. Their highest potential is the ability to encourage, which means to put courage in another person.

For more information and resources on how to become the brand employees can live without, check out The Customer Service Revolution podcast. If you’d like to listen, head over to Episode 031: How to Be The Brand Employees Can’t Live Without.