I have come across another example of a company that "gets it." According to the October 2007 case study by Ken Magill in Direct Magazine, "Worker's Paradise," Zappos.com believes happy staffers lead to happy customers.  The article states:

It's all part of the company's maniacal focus on a customer service-driven culture. Employees have been known to wear costumes while interviewing prospective hires.

This dot-commesque style seems to be working. The company is on track to do $800 million in sales this year, up from $597 million in 2006. That's a good chunk of the total online footwear market for 2006, which totaled $2.9 billion last year, according to Forrester Research.

Zappos eked out its first profit in 2006 — about 1%, according to [Zappos.com CEO, Tony] Hsieh — and is on track to do just a little better this year.

The guiding philosophy? Hsieh refuses to see customer service as an expense. Rather, it's an investment, he says. “Our business is based on repeat customers and word of mouth. There's a lot of value in building up our brand name and what it stands for. We view the money that we spend on customer service as marketing money that improves our brand.”

The Zappos case study is another outstanding example of how happy employees can provide legendary customer experiences and impact the company's business value.

Read more about the Employee/Customer Asset Value Chain:

• Employee Value = Company Value
• Employee/Customer Asset Value Chain
• Taking Care of Employees
• Employee & Customer Experiences