There's something amazing about being served by an employee who loves the brand they represent.

My wife, Sally, and I experienced that recently at the Dr. Martens store on Newbury Street in Boston. We walked in the store and Sally quickly zeroed in on a pair of shoes she liked.

Scratch that. Loved.

"Aren't those great?" asked an employee as she approached Sally. "They just came in. That stitching looks soooo good." Her excitement was just as sincere as Sally's.

In fact, if it wasn't for the name tag and the employees' offer to retrieve a pair of shoes in Sally's size, we might have easily mistaken the employee for another Dr. Martens fan.

Another employee chimed in as he was walking by. "I saw those as soon as they came and I immediately bought a pair. They really stand out."

Now two employees were fawning over the shoes as Sally tried them on. Their enthusiasm made it far easier to connect with customers and assist them.

Sally can attest to that. Her new shoes look awesome.

You might not work for an iconic brand like Dr. Martens, but you can still turn your employees into brand evangelists.

Who is an employee brand evangelist?

Some companies have marketing roles with the word "evangelist" in the job title. Their job is to get the word out about a company's products and services. An employee brand evangelist is a bit different.

An employee brand evangelist can work in any role. You might find them in sales, marketing, customer service, operations, or even finance. They are a brand evangelist who happens to work for your company.

Brittany Hodak, an expert on helping brands create superfans, offers this definition of a brand evangelist on her blog:

A brand evangelist is a customer who is so passionate about your brand, product, service, or business that they advocate on your behalf. In other words, brand evangelists love you so much that they create more customers by sharing your story.

Now, imagine that customer is also an employee. That's an employee brand evangelist!

It's someone like those Dr. Martens employees who genuinely advocate on behalf of their company. Employee brand evangelists:

Are naturally customer-centric.
Spread contagious enthusiasm to other employees.
Proudly tell friends and family who they work for.

Why do you need employee brand evangelists?

Turning your employees into brand evangelists can create several big advantages when serving customers.

One benefit is credibility.

Dr. Martens employees literally walk in the same shoes as their customers. There's not an ounce of insincerity when an employee gushes about a new style.

Another benefit is knowledge.

Employees at Armstrong Garden Centers have incredible knowledge about the plants they sell in part because they're planting those same plants in their own gardens. They're able to tap into their experiences as gardeners when advising a customer on how to grow a bumper crop of tomatoes or resuscitate a dying houseplant.

A third benefit is customer advocacy.

Employees at Slack become customer advocates by using the product every day. According to Kevin Albers, Slack's Vice President of Customer Experience, this helps employees make the product better because they share their customers' experiences.

"Everyone—from our support staff to office managers to sales leaders—can offer their feedback and perspective on how we might improve our product. We have a dedicated channel just for this topic, and each submission is reviewed and responded to by a product manager. Having a voice to influence the direction of the software that continues to improve your working life, you feel empowered to be part of the journey and take pride in being an expert."

How can you turn employees into brand evangelists?

A great product or service is table stakes for evangelism. Assuming you've got that, here are three ways you can turn your employees into brand evangelists.

#1 Hire customers

One of the easiest approaches is to hire people who already love your product. These employees were already brand evangelists before you hired them.

I probably write too much about the outdoor gear retailer REI, but there's a reason for it. REI employees are avid outdoor enthusiasts who are passionate about helping others enjoy the outdoors, too.

My last visit to REI was a perfect example. An employee named Todd expertly answered questions about REI's bike selection and gave me some inside tips on how to get the right bike for me. We also had an in-depth conversation about Mission Trails, which is an amazing open-space park in San Diego that has miles of biking and hiking trails spread out over more than 8,000 acres.

It felt more like a buddy providing some helpful advice than a retail associate dutifully answering questions.

Do you have customers who are passionate brand evangelists? If so, can you find a way to hire them, even on a part-time basis?

#2 Create customers

There are some situations where you can create customers by having employees use your own products or services. This can naturally turn some employees into brand evangelists.

Customer service software provider, Zendesk, is a great example.

Zendesk employees use Zendesk software when supporting their own customers. This creates a built-in advantage where employees are intimately familiar with the product because they use it in their everyday work.

According to Dave Dyson, a Zendesk Community Engagement Specialist, other Zendesk employees use the product as well.

"Many of our teams, from IT to People Ops and Workplace Experience, use it to manage internal requests—so all employees are exposed to our products in one way or another. We also have a program that encourages employees to share blog posts and other announcements via social media."

Is there an opportunity for employees to regularly use your products or services?

Some companies, such as at Zendesk or Slack, make using the product part of employees' daily work. Other companies, such as REI, offer a generous employee discount.

#3 Follow customer journeys

Another way to help create employee brand evangelists is to have employees follow a customer journey from a customer's perspective.

The USS Midway Museum is the top-rated tourist attraction in San Diego. One of the Midway's many secrets to success is each employee is given the opportunity to take the museum tour so they can experience the Midway as a guest and see for themselves what makes the museum so special.

The people who work there are really enthusiastic. Check out this video featuring my friend, Jamie. And yes, her enthusiasm is real.

Can you have employees become a customer for a day? If that's not feasible, can employees shadow a customer or conduct an in-depth interview?

Additional Resources

Employee brand evangelists can provide your company with a huge advantage. Just imagine having a passionate group of employees who take pride in their company and can't wait to tell other people about the products and services you sell.

You can learn more about some of the companies described in this article from the following resources.

Brittany Hodak's website has a lot of great resources for creating brand evangelists.
A recent feature in Inc. Magazine profiled how organic baby food company, Little Spoon, used employee brand evangelists to grow its subscriber base by 250 percent.
Armstrong Garden Centers is profiled in the book, The Guaranteed Customer Experience.
Slack's Kevin Albers and I facilitated a recent webinar on creating consistently great customer experiences.
Both REI and Zendesk are profiled in the book, The Service Culture Handbook.
The USS Midway Museum is profiled in the book, Getting Service Right. You can also read more from this post.