“There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organization’s overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow. It goes without saying that no company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.” – Jack Welch
The quote is possibly the most succinct and precise way to explain how employees increase market value of a company. Any company’s financial performance and stability is not in anyone’s control but rather is directly dependent on providing top class service and humanizing every aspect of business. Neither service nor humanizing can happen without the company’s employees – they are the ones that create and deliver value to customers thereby helping to increase market value of the company. Companies that make the mistake of believe that they need to manage finances and other resources, while ignoring the most important asset – human resource – would soon be struggling to maintain service levels, which would make them lose both customers and employees.
By devoting time and efforts towards nurturing employees, a company would most certainly be able to increase market value – not just financially but also gain a sound reputation of being a caring and empathetic company. A company that treats its employees kindly becomes somewhat of a magnet for customers, investors, and other awesome talent in the market. To increase market value a company must encourage its employees, instil – enthusiasm, commitment, drive, energy, and passion in them, such that they a walking advertisements of your company’s commitment and dedication. In addition, a company that is strong on the inside with dedicated employees would be able to do exactly what customers want and do it better than any other competitor could. Is this not the kind of company every customer would like to do business with – which in turn would increase market value of the company?
The onus to increase market value lies within the company. By hiring and retaining the best talent, a company would consistently increase its market value since it would be able to provide innovative products, strong customer relationships and would be able to deliver better on every count as compared to its competitors. An increase in market value and share gives companies a better competitive advantage as compared to others. Stakeholders such as vendors and suppliers too would want to associate with such companies and to do so would offer better rates, higher quality products, and on time delivery. With such advantages, a company would increase its staying and buying capacity, which in turn would lead to them provide better for their customers. It is the company’s employees that perform all these functions – the better they are treated, the more effective they would be in cracking the best deals and gaining an increase in market value for the company.
No company can remain successful by being static – innovation and creativity are vital to increase market value. Each time a company offers something new to the market and to its customers, it attracts positive attention from every quarter – prospective customers, investors, employees, and other stakeholders. However, a company is not a standalone entity – to make it successful or not, largely depends on the kind of people it employs. It is the efforts of employees that can either attract and retain customers or push them swiftly towards a competitor. Customers become loyal and profitable when they receive the kind of service and offerings that are not available anywhere else – none of this is possible without actual people working hard and relentlessly. Customer loyalty is a rare asset and when a company has it, it can increase market value and overshadow its nearest competitors.
With so many and new challenges, companies face now, not only must they increase market value but also protect their existing market share. No company can afford to lose even a single customer but without building and strengthening their relationship with each customer, losing customers would not be hard. We know that customers prefer doing business with companies that have a human side – one, which would understand their emotions and pain areas. Since employees interact with customers, it is they who could either display empathy or convey complete disregard for the customer’s needs. The better a company is at alleviating the problems and pain of customers, it enhances it chances to increase market value. Happy customers in turn, spread positive word of mouth and encourage others to buy more from the company – the greater the sales and profits, the larger the increase in market share.
It is a cyclical process – a company with a high market share, consistently and inevitably has the happiest, most dedicated, trained, flexible, and highly skilled employees. These top employees are highly productive, do more with less, bring down company costs, are highly motivated, focus on self-development, and enable the company to dedicate more resources towards making them even better. A successful company can then not only give its employees the best salaries and allowances, but can also afford added benefits of flexi schedules, shorter work weeks and days, and other such value-additions that would continually attract the best. It would be hard to beat a company with a workforce that functions like the world’s best army!
For a company to remain competitive and to increase market value, it must focus on its employees. It must provide a stimulating work culture that feeds off passion, commitment, enthusiasm, excellence, energy – the list is huge. Whatever be the traits a company decides to promote, the fact is that these traits manifest themselves through people – the company’s employees. These traits do not exist in a vacuum – they require people to grow and become large enough to outsmart the shrewdest competitor. Employees give shape to ideas – they are the ones who make the company’s dreams a reality and ensure that customers of the company feel valued and special each time they interact with the company. It is not hard to see why employees can increase market value and widen the gap that exists between the company and its nearest competition.
Strange then, that some companies still fail to see the critical role that employees have in making them successful. There are still some companies that completely ignore the ‘human’ aspect and focus only on hitting targets. Ignoring the problems of employees would eventually translate to lowered morale, decrease in productivity, and huge attrition numbers. Who would like to work with a company that drains every ounce of energy and every last bit of energy and creativity? This is in turn would mean a crash of customer service levels, leading to customer churn and ultimately reduce market value and share. In effect, what a company actually did was ignore the very definition of success – employees gain success for a company- no company can get anywhere without a motivated taskforce.
Remember to focus on creating a great place to work and encourage each employee to show case and enhance her or his unique skills and talent. Just as external customers are made to feel important, it is vital that employees be treated so to start with. To increase market value and reputation, ensure that your employees think well of the company first.
