Linking Employees and Customers to Drive Performance: 5 Market KPIs
High-performance organizations (HPOs) take both an inside-out and an outside-in look at their businesses. The starting point for these top organizations is the marketplace and the customer.
In fact, i4cp research shows that HPOs--defined by superior revenue growth, increased market share and profitability, and higher levels of customer satisfaction--intimately understand the markets they operate within and the motivations and desires of their customers.
The People-Profit Chain™ from i4cp identified the top market KPIs that correlate to market performance and found that for high performance, companies must:
1) Align the company brand to the employee value proposition
i4cp's recent research findings demonstrate that brand alignment can be a significant driver of success--but strong brand is not only critical to the market, it is critical to the workforce as well. In fact, HPOs are 3.3x stronger in brand alignment than their low-performance counterparts.Read: Company Brand + Workforce Alignment = High-Performance
2) Assess the customers’ future needs
Leaders of high-performance firms have discovered that in-depth knowledge of customers and their needs can and must exist throughout the workforce, and human resources plays a key role in developing that knowledge company-wide.Read: 5 Ways HR Helps Your Company Anticipate Customers' Future Needs
3) Measure performance against customer's expectations
HR is often viewed as being worlds away from the customer, but that shouldn't be the case. Measuring performance against customer expectations is one of the top KPIs that is highly correlated to market performance.Read: How HR Can Ensure Your Company Exceeds Customer Expectations
4) Align organizational structure to the customers
While ever-heightening competitive intensity seems inevitable, one way to stand out is through customer focus. The good news is that there are practices that differentiate high performers from low performers--winning organizations will be the ones that take these practices to heart and implement them effectively.Read: Winning Through Customer Focus
5) Build and protect the brand
Consumers may be drawn into transactions by marketing initiatives, but it's the touchpoints with employees along the way that cultivate brand loyalty and drive future sales. HR needs to equip employees with the skills they need to be self-sufficient brand evangelists, deal with positive and negative customer feedback, and radiate excitement about products and services.Read: How HR Can Help Build and Protect the Corporate Brand
How successful is your organization at leveraging talent? Download a complimentary copy of The People-Profit Chain™ and increase performance by up to 3x.