Do happy employees create happy customers?

Happy employees may or may not create happy customers yet it certain that unhappy employees do NOT create happy customers.

Happy employees enable happy customers & vice versa. But a happy employee that’s unable to meet the customers’ needs, executes poorly or creates a poor customer experience will not create a happy customer.

This all starts at the top with the company’s culture, customer & employee philosophy, and leadership.

Throughout my career, I always believed I have 2 customers – my employees & my customers. Either can chose to walk as soon as they’re not getting their needs met.

A customer-first company focuses on meeting the needs of both their customers and their employees. It takes an entire company to deliver exceptional customer experiences and create happy customers.

There have been numerous claims about the link between happy employees and happy customers, but this is very difficult to measure.
Personally from correlation measures I've seen I can say that it it not always the case: specifically in times of change the employee satisfaction might go down while customer satisfaction goes up. It is then up to the employer to restore employee satisfaction.

As a manager I would say: treat your employees like you would treat your customers.
As an employee I would say: see your employer as a customer of your services.
The combination of both works generally well.

I just posted a blog yesterday on this with that exact same title. My short answer is happy employees sure increases the chances of creating a happy customer. Read my blog at http://www.lisaford.blogspot.com

yeah happy employees will be more welcoming and will take great lenghts of inerest in customer care and solve issues faced by them. have you ever experienced a person who is happy and yell at you.

Of course. Take Apple, for instance. The Apple Retail chain was criticized by "experts" as destine for failure, much like the Gateway store and other computer specific stores before it. Instead it helped to create the multi-billion dollar giant by giving a face to the brand. And how do they do that? With happy employees!

Happy employees can diffuse/handle just about any situation that comes their way. Apple has created a sense of pride and belonging among its people that keeps the employee feeling like they are part of a larger whole. Also, they create an environment that feels like a bright, cheerful and innovative place with bright, cheerful and innovative management. Employees seem empowered with the ability to control the customer experience, at all levels, and not held back by regulations and red tape. Those are just some well known examples of how Apple gets their people excited to be at work. Go to an Apple Store, and learn first hand what cheerful employees can do for customer service.

I have research that shows happy employees translates into happy customers and positvely impacts the bottom line.

As an employee, I would say yes. When employees' opinions, needs and interests are valued, there is a reciprocal focus on customers. When employees feel respected, they will respect customers.

But prior, it's important to hire for culture and fit -- not skills.

For more years than I care to think about, my philosophy has been: I can tell how employees are treated by the way they treat the customer(s). This has held true whether it is a restaurant, department store, or law firm. Perhaps the word "happy" is not what I would use, but I am 100% sure that the way internal customers (employees) are handled can positively impact the way they handle external customers.

Truly happy employees, employees who work for people who place the employees needs first, tend to have happy customers.

The Container Store has been named in the Fortune 100 best places to work for over 12 years. Zappos, a place that prides itself on exceptional customer service has an employee first philosophy also.

I have experienced first hand what happens to customer service when employees are not treated well. In a blogpost about United Airlines (who happened to come in second in Glassdoors worst places to work) I tell the story about how an employee treats their customer: http://bit.ly/a2lrCN

Brenda, "Perhaps the word "happy" is not what I would use," is an excellent comment. People may be happy in their jobs but that does not mean they do their jobs well. Successful employees create satisfied customers.