Recognize and Retain your Best Assets

What sets your organization apart from the competition? What makes your customers keep coming back to you – and not to another company? What is it that defines your company, your brand, your business?

In today’s competitive market, the answers to these questions revolve around the most important assets that drive your business – your people. It’s your employees who bring the commitment, the drive and the message that you deliver to your customers every day. “People are, have always been and always will be the Number One differentiator” (R. Vaden, Employees Set Business Apart from Competitors, 2013). Your people set you apart.

At the same time, it is also your people who can make or break your business. Who are your high performers? What do they bring to your organization every day? Are they delivering the right message, a consistent message, to your customers with every encounter? It isn’t enough to talk the talk, if your employees can’t walk the walk.

According to Vaden, ” . . . companies that develop their people develop their profits. The companies that overlook their people undermine their profits.” How do you engage your employees? How to you retain your high-performers who deliver your message every day? Marketing expert Yvette Wikstrom suggests that every company must ” . . . improve employees’ willingness to stay employed . . . and the extent to which employees communicate positively/negatively about the brand/employer to colleagues, friends, family and other contacts” (Market Probe Blog, 2013). Give your employees reasons to stay – and to stay engaged: the right training, the rights tools, leadership and value. Recognize and appreciate contributions both big and small. Thanking employees, whether through an Integrated Rewards Platform, Recognition Dinners or a simple Thank You Note, goes a long way toward telling your best assets that they are appreciated and valued.

Remember that your employees confirm and deliver your organization’s message every day with their commitment, their performance and their interaction with your clients. “The future . . . will belong to the companies that create the best lifestyles for the ones who give life to the company itself – its people. . . . Your people are your Number One asset. Love them. Reward them. Train them. Teach them.” (Vaden, 2013) Make sure that your employees know that they are your first – and best – investment.