For years, we’ve been chasing Customer Satisfaction in the automotive industry. Here’s my question – Why are we aiming so low? Satisfaction is meeting the most basic of customer expectations. Is the new car full of gas? Is it cleaned and ready for delivery on time? Was the vehicle fixed right the first time? These are things that customers expect of us.

Employees, customers are as important as financials. An employee engagement survey program provides a great tool for ownership and leadership. The employee engagement survey data and analysis creates the foundation for an integrated approach to manager engagement training, employee reviews and building a high-performance culture.

Do you know the lifetime value of your average customer? Has your organization determined their cost to acquire a new customer? I can’t think of a time anyone challenged the business strategy of spending money to get new customers. I challenge you to play the flip side of that argument and use the information and calculators provided in this article to come up with an estimated cost of what your organization spends on acquiring new customers each year and what they are worth.

This article delves a little deeper into the mindset of one of our favorite companies- Starbucks! Check out their unique approach to both employee and customer relationships and learn how you can apply a similar culture to your work environment.