While many business managers see only doom and gloom ahead, some are focusing on a new way to unlock a prosperous future – even in a tough recession. Through the game-changing principle of engagement, companies can learn to use technology and best practices to extract new revenue from their existing customer base.

Historically engagement has been elusive and hard to measure. However, there are four outcomes of customer engagement that can be measured in actual dollars:

1. Share of Wallet – Engaged customers buy more products/services, more often
2. Positive Referral – Engaged customers persuade potential customers to switch brands
3. Customer Churn – Engaged customers remain loyal and stay longer
4. Feedback Response – Engaged customers give more feedback, which allows companies the opportunity to address concerns and save potentially lost revenue

Even using conservative numbers, the financial benefits of engagement are substantial. Our research shows that it can be measured, and it is not as difficult as companies think. In fact, we found that improving customer engagement by a small amount, as little as one percent, can have a dramatic impact on financial results. The economics of engagement are real, and they can have a major impact on any business willing to invest the time, energy and resources in a plan of action. While most companies continue to compete on the traditional battlegrounds of price, service and quality, those that capitalize on engagement will create an unbeatable advantage.

Here are few examples of companies who have experienced significant growth in revenues due to their engagement efforts:

Allegiance Customer Case Studies

Be sure to check out the Jan 21 webinar with Todd Rowe of SAP as he discusses why a survey is not enough for a complete VOC program. In this webinar, Todd will discuss:

- The new role of surveys in the world of customer feedback / customer insight
- New ways to listen to customers and aggregate data without asking your staff to read thousands of replies
- Competitive advantage of next-gen VOC technology
- The new VOC tool set

To learn more or register, go to https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/323150952

Most of the CEO’s I speak with agree that innovation and improved customer service is the key that will help their company emerge from the recession stronger than their competitors. To accomplish this requires employees with good morale and solid productivity. The problem may be that if your employees are like 55% of American workers, they are suffering from poor morale which is leading to dropping productivity and stifled innovation.

According to the Conference Board research group, employee job satisfaction in America is at a 22 year low with the largest percentage of workers suffering from poor morale and low productivity (http://bit.ly/4ViPWr).

The study reports the low job satisfaction stems from:
• Fewer workers consider their jobs to be interesting.
• Incomes have not kept up with inflation.
• The soaring cost of health insurance has eaten into workers’ take-home pay.
What really stood out to me was a quote from one of the research participants who said he wished bosses would take time to listen to worker’s ideas – and their difficulties on the job.

Many companies today are focusing on listening to their customers to find ways to improve customer service and drive product innovation. However, your employees represent the whole of your company’s brain trust. Many of our customers have also set up Voice of the Employee initiatives with the goal of identifying ways to improve employee morale, better engage their employees, identify ways to save money, improve procedures and in short, do things better and faster.

Since the same tools used to survey customers can be used with your employees for little or no incremental cost, you might seriously consider setting up a Voice of the Employee program.

We would love to hear your comments and thoughts on this.