Sometimes a little attention goes a long way. Recognizing and putting the spotlight on an employee can do a lot to boost morale, show appreciation and create loyalty. But there’s benefits that are customer facing that can help grow the business as well.
Think for a moment about the new customer or client. They’ve heard about you. A friend told them about your business. Or perhaps they saw an ad on social media or in the mail. Their interest is piqued. Chances are they’ll look at your website first to learn a little more. In fact, most customers will visit a business’s website nine (9) times before they decide to buy (source). In fact, 85% of consumers conduct online research before making a purchase (source). That’s a lot of (new) people visiting your website. So what does that have to do with your employees?
There’s a few benefits:
It Humanizes Your Business
Products, services, warranties, mission statements … blah, blah, blah. You know that About page on your website? Make it personal. Make it real! Talk about your employees. They’re the ones that the customer interacts with … or the ones behind the scenes making the product. They’re real people and they’re part of your business story. So share their story! What do they love about your business? Why did they decide to work there? Their enthusiasm is different than yours. Because it’s not their business, it comes across as authentic and genuine. It helps to humanize the business.
It Creates Familiarity
This is especially true if you’re in a service oriented business. If you have an employee that will be interacting with a customer, help customers get to know them BEFORE they do business with you. When they’re doing that online research we mentioned above, let them get to know your staff. By creating familiarity, customers feel more comfortable and relaxed. Take for example a home health care business. By providing a profile of your staff, complete with pictures, bios (and even better – videos!) you create that sense of familiarity. When they come to your home, it’s like you already know them. That makes the customer feel at ease.
It Shows You Care
By creating profiles on your website of your employees, it shows that your business is more than just you. It might be your business, but when you show your customers that you care enough to showcase your employees on your website, you demonstrate a genuine interest and even loyalty to your staff and employees.
How Do You Do It?
- Ask them some questions … why did you choose to work here? What do you like about what we do or sell? Have you always lived in the Bitterroot? What do you like to do when you’re not working here? Get them to open up. Nothing too long … keep it brief but interesting.
- Take their picture. Profiles are okay … but if you can get a picture of them working, that’s even better.
- Post it to your website. Use the About page … or create a section on your homepage for an employee spotlight.
- Share them on social media. We only care about seeing your products or services so much. Make your social media feed personal with an occasional employee spotlight.
- Don’t forget the bribes and incentives to your employees go a long way 😉
