why is it important to meet internal customer needs?

Answer 1

I work in Human Resources and I can give you my interpretation on this...

If our department does not meet internal customer needs, then we wil not be meeting our objectives. We would not be cost effective and will not be adding value to the organisations overall mission and objectives. If we were to continue this way, then it is likely that we would be the first department to be cut in a crisis. If we not fulfilling our objective (i.e. what the company put us there to do), why keep us there when we're costing money??

Also, in our situation, if we were not meeting the needs of our customers (line managers, senior managers and general employees) then we could be costing our organisation even more by not following procedure and policy and, in turn, the law.

HR departments are outsourced for lesser reasons!

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

Meeting internal customer needs helps you acquire external customers. This is specially true for a service company. "Service encounter" or "moment of truth" is the term used to describe the scenario when an employee comes into contact with a customer. If the first encounter experience is bad for the customer, it is unlikely s/he will come back again to the same company. Worse, the customer might spread negative words about the company and loose more potential customers.

Never underestimate the need to satisfy the internal customers! It could potentially make or break a company's back.

Answer 3

If your company is ISO9001 registered you'll probably find it's a documented requirement. All customers whether internal or external are important and in theory it should be easier to service internal customers as the lines of communications should be better. If you can't look after your own then what chance do you stand with the external customers that pay your salary?

Answer 4

The internal needs, or hidden motivations of a customer are the 'hot buttons' that if satisfied, can produce a sale, or a decision to accept a service.
Should these needs not be met, then the customer is likely to find excuses to refuse or delay the proposition.
The needs are often deeply psychological, and can manifest themselves as safety, greed, excitement, satisfaction, love, power, pride and other emotions.
Most products and services will satisfy some of these deep and hidden emotions, and it is the sales persons job to find the product benefits that do this. When the critical benefits are identified, only then can the order be requested and closed!

Answer 5

Because at the most basic level, that is how business works - you provide a service to others that they need, and they provide a service that you need. Whether the "customer" is internal or external, you're not likely to get your needs met if you don't do your share of meeting the needs of others. And you might even learn something.

Answer 6

Internal customers are very vital part of the organisation...if the internal customers are not pleased...then it would be difficult to attaract new customers....because the the same action is resiprocated to the extenal customers by the internal customers....