What are some of the main purposes behind any business? I say “purposes” because it does serve a variety of them, not just one. Of course, the obvious one is to generate revenue for everybody involved – from business owner(s) to employees to janitors. Even collaborative businesses have their benefits. Entrepreneurs invest their time, funds, energy, and passion into their companies, so having an idea and watching it grow and get realized is a major satisfaction in itself also.

Anyhow, it’s important for everybody that business is doing well, and it is achieved when communities, customers, and employees do well. A company should serve all the stakeholders, which is especially important for companies where customers get in touch with many of the employees (e.g. butchers, cashiers, and other people that interact with customers on a daily basis).

These employees are the ones who convey a positive attitude about the company, develop relationships with customers, and have deep functional business expertise. Whether a customer will keep coming back or not depends on these employees, so it’s of utmost importance for them to be loyal and happy. These are some of the ways you can inspire employee and customer loyalty.

Best Ways to Inspire Employee and Customer Loyalty

#1 Treat Them like Family

Maintain a close emotional connection with your workers and behave as if each one of them is a family member. Make sure you communicate openly with them, hold regular staff meetings and keep them informed with the on-going progress and problem situations. Share concerns and wins with your employees, but also take a break every now and then to spend some quality time with your them – off-site meetings, team building gatherings, occasional happy hours, or whatever you think of. These kinds of gatherings can boost their morale and even improve fractured relationships.

#2 Offer Fair and Competitive Compensation

When employees are paid less than they could earn doing the same job at some other place, they feel devalued. They also expect to be paid as much as their colleagues who do the same work, regardless of whether they may be better at negotiating salaries. By publishing everyone’s compensation, you can establish competitive fairness.

#3 Keep the Overhead Low

Productivity can be boosted by long-term employee loyalty. Employees who have been with the company long enough have gained enough experience (regarding many levels of the business) before reaching their current leadership positions. This means that they are capable of operating efficiently from a staffing perspective.

#4 Maintaining Low Prices

Customers pay attention to the quality of a product, but eventually price is the one that determines whether they’ll purchase it or not. If you manage to keep the quality up and prices low, your reputation among customers will stay flawless, keeping them loyal. Make sure you don’t have any debt, because prices can’t be kept low if you have to make monthly debt payments.

#5 Gift Cards

One of the most popular ways for saying “Thank you”, showing that you care, motivating your employees and maintaining loyalty amongst customers is by giving them gift cards. If you want to make a personal incentive worthwhile, then the gift should be presented in person. It is a pretty simple rewarding system, yet an effective one. Managers should just make sure that these gift cards, as rewards, don’t appear as a simple transactional agreement, but as sincere thanks for the employees’ great performance or customer loyalty.

The best investment one can make as an entrepreneur and business leader is creating and sustaining the loyalty of customers and employees. Finding new employees and customers, for spreading the business, is important. However, you should realize that the existing ones are your bread and butter. Let that be the biggest lesson you’ll learn today as an entrepreneur.