Winning Workplaces

On his Church of the Customer blog today, Ben McConnell asks, "Does customer evangelism begin with employee evangelists?"

He follows by saying he thinks so, and adds that a student at Fresno Pacific University, Pamela Hutton, is trying to put some hard numbers behind her answer to this question as part of her dissertation. (Click here to take Pamela's confidential survey on this topic before it closes on Wednesday this week.)

I'm with Ben, but I don't just think customer evangelism starts with employees – I know it does! Here are some examples that show this from the small firms we've honored over the years for their innovative team building and employee engagement best practices – along with some hard numbers to show for them:

Company: King Arthur Flour (2008 Top Small Workplace)

Key Features: Huge value placed on transparency, open communication, and upholding stakeholder interests; expanded their business and customer outreach in recent years by becoming the single largest educator of home bakers in the world; communicated flour price increases to customers when the price of wheat went up, and lowered their prices when it went back down
Results: 30% revenue growth 2005-07 compared to 11% industry average growth; the fifth fastest growing company in Vermont

Company: Gentle Giant Moving (2007 Top Small Workplace)

Key Features: All employees who rise up the ranks start as movers; rigorous training program on everything from lifting boxes to safe driving; employees given authority to make decisions on the spot in favor of the customer
Results: 25% growth in both employees and revenues 2004-06; 80% of all business derived from repeat clients and referrals

Company: Headsets.com (President and CEO Mike Faith was a 2006 Best Boss)

Key Features: Pioneered "customer love"; long interview process with 7-8 interviews before hiring decision is made, for employees at all levels; all employees tout benefits of their favorite headset model on company website
Results: 202% revenue growth 2003-05; 88% growth in net revenue per employee 2003-05

Learn more about the 2008 winning firms here, the 2007 winners here, and our Best Boss honorees here.

What evidence do you see that employee engagement to turn your people into evangelists for your firm results in customer evangelists for your brand?