You probably aren’t surprised to read that companies with superior levels of customer loyalty and retention have the highest profit and growth rates. Customer loyalty generates repeat sales, increased sales, and referrals.

Numerous books and studies support the connection between customer loyalty, employee loyalty and profitability.  Did you know that approximately 40 percent of the companies in the Top 100 Fortune “America’s Best Companies to Work For” list also appear on the Fortune 500 List? For more details, please visit the following links:

• Linking Employee Satisfaction with Productivity, Performance, and Customer Satisfaction by The  Corporate Leadership Council

• Examining the Relationship Between Employee Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction, by Alpha Measure, Inc. 

Employee Loyalty is Essential to Customer Loyalty
You may be surprised, however, to learn that there is a direct link between customer loyalty and employee loyalty. You cannot maintain a loyal base of customers without a loyal base of employees!  Why is this true?  Your best and most loyal employees are more efficient than new employees, more empowered, more innovative, and more customer-focused, which improves the overall customer experience and satisfaction level.

What Do You Think?
If you’d like to learn some tips from STAR on how to improve employee and customer loyalty, please view our July 2009 STAR Newsletter. In the meantime, we’d like to hear your thoughts about these topics. For example:

• How important is employee loyalty to your business?
• What have you or your company done to improve customer loyalty and employee loyalty?