Everywhere I’ve worked has prioritized customers and clients on a pedestal above everyone else. I’ve had bosses and potential bosses cancel meetings & interviews last-minute due to client ‘fire drills’ (needless to say – I am skeptical of who was placing the urgency on these tasks).
What kind of culture are you creating when you prioritize clients (/profits) over internal employees or potential employees? What kind of message does it send to your internal stakeholders?
Examples of this behavior:
Canceling or no-showing to 1:1s or internal meetings with the excuse of needing to work on client requests/tasks
Accepting interruptions from clients (phone calls/emails) during 1:1s or internal meetings
Not responding to your employees in a timely fashion (or at all)
Prioritizing requests/tasks for superiors in the company while ignoring subordinates or others
Canceling or no-showing interviews with prospective employees due to client requests/tasks
Not responding to internal communication
Sir Richard Branson is known for saying:
“Clients don’t come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees they will take care of your clients.”
I think there is definitely truth to this.
What I’ve witnessed first-hand in organizations has been overall ineffective customer management. For example, not properly setting boundaries with clients, not being clear on scope of work (not doing due diligence to ensure the SOW is profitable), not managing or communicating expectations, not ensuring proper resources, and/or not holding customers accountable to these boundaries/expectations (not saying “no” when you need to). Organizations can become customer-obsessed and let unreasonable requests run wild while expecting employees to jump and say “how high?” when asked.
Another common thing I see is undeveloped leaders hiding behind clients/customers because they are uncomfortable or insecure with the people management aspect of their job. AKA: prioritizing customers because it keeps them in their comfort zone. Often, I talk about how leadership is people management + task management. The task management portion includes external clients/customers and the people management portion is leading the internal employees. I had a boss who constantly no-showed to our scheduled 1:1 meetings; he was prioritizing “urgent” work for other higher-ups in the company. I also think he was uncomfortable at people management so he found excuses (even unintentionally) to avoid leading his staff. This didn’t go over well with the team who was left feeling unsupported.
There are advantages to prioritizing your employees. They are the people who are running your business and taking care of your customers/clients. It’s been documented that higher employee engagement leads to better customer service, which means increased profits. Not only are many customers willing to pay more for better customer service, you could increase your market share with this model too. You could charge more for better customer service.
I don’t know about you, but lately, I have been extremely discouraged with customer service levels. It’s rare that I send a customer support ticket and get the question answered or resolved in the first response – assuming there IS a response. Most recently, I was 13 emails deep into a customer support ticket over a very basic request. The first 3 people who responded said the same (irrelevant) thing.
If you are going to prioritize your clients and customers, that doesn’t mean that your employees should be a distant second. You shouldn’t please one at the expense of the other. I urge leaders to be more thoughtful about balancing their external and internal customers. I also encourage leaders to set appropriate and clear expectations and boundaries with clients. If you allow clients to run all over you because you are desperate and in fear of losing them, what kind of message does that send?
One way to check-in with yourself about this is: when you say “yes” to a client request/task, identify what you are saying “no” to. Are you saying “no” to a scheduled 1:1 or taking time to nurture relationships with subordinates or peers? How can you be more thoughtful and balance both of these stakeholders?
Many organizations struggle with issues like high turnover, burnout, low productivity, gossip/politics, and ineffective leadership. Amber offers an easy-to-start streamlined solution through one-on-one leadership coaching, administering & debriefing Hogan assessments, dynamic leadership workshops, and personalized strategic guidance. The result? Reduced turnover, improved productivity and innovation, and a strategic and thriving workplace. Ready to discover how coaching can benefit your organization?
