What’s More Important, Happy Customers or Happy Employees?

Do happy employees make happy customers, or is it the other way around? Do happy customers make employees happy? 

I’ve written in many articles and books that a focus on the employee experience will improve the customer experience. The logic makes sense. If you treat employees well, they will be more engaged with their customers and fellow employees. My mantra has been: 

What happens on the inside of an organization is felt on the outside by customers. 

I had the chance to interview Sean Crichton-Browne, co-author of  The Human Culture Imperative , for an episode of Amazing Business Radio. He challenges the concept, and in his book, he discusses how happy customers actually create happier and more engaged employees. 

Crichton-Browne’s insights stem from his years of sales experience. He said, “I was happy when my customers were happy. Because at the end of the day, when I received that phone call from a disgruntled customer, I became exceptionally unhappy.” In other words, the emotional climate of a customer’s happiness (or unhappiness) had a direct impact on employee satisfaction. 

Crichton-Browne’s “outside-in” approach flips the traditional “happy employees equals happy customers” approach and asks us to start with the end in mind. He argues that when customers are happy, employees will take greater pride in their work, stay longer and be more engaged.  

While this idea makes sense, I’m still of the “happy employees first” mentality. No matter how great your product is, if you don’t support it with great service, the customer eventually moves on to the competition. That great service is the result of great employees positively engaging with their customers. You don’t want to make employees who control the customer experience unhappy. Again, what’s happening on the inside of the organization is felt on the outside by customers.  

We did find some middle ground. There is no doubt that happy customers elevate employee morale. It’s like a continuous loop. Employees feel good when customers are happy, and customers feel good when employees are happy. Crichton-Browne says, “One cannot exist successfully without the other.”  

So, what’s the takeaway from our conversation? First, don’t get caught up in the chicken-or-the-egg debate. The truth is that employee happiness and customer happiness feed off each other. Customers feel good when employees are engaged, and employees feel good when customers are happy. One can’t exist without the other, and together they create the kind of momentum that makes both employees and customers say, “I’ll be back!”

Shep Hyken  is a customer service/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep’s  customer service and customer experience keynote speeches  and his  customer service training workshops  at  www.Hyken.com . Connect with Shep on  LinkedIn .