YOUR BUSINESS: David Lee

What reputation are your employees creating?

Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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About the Author DAVID LEE is founder of HumanNature@Work, a management training and consulting firm based in Bar Mills, which is online at HumanNature AtWork.com. He can be reached via e-mail at David@HumanNatureAtWork.com. To top of story

If your business serves the public and you're not monitoring how your employees represent you, you should be afraid. Very afraid.

If you think I'm exaggerating, think of all the interactions you've had as a customer that leave you thinking, "What were they thinking when they hired this person?" Think of how often you're "served" by someone who is bored, uninterested, clueless or just downright unpleasant.

Let me give you two examples. The first one took place at an electronics store.

Three clerks, young men a few years out of high school, were hanging around the checkout counter talking computer games as I entered the store. As I walked by, I glanced at the closest clerk. He stared back at me in a "Who you lookin' at?" way.

I went about my business, searching for a piece of equipment, never disturbed by a single "If you need any help, just let me know." As I walked out the door, I thought, "Does the owner of this store have any idea what his employees are doing to his store's reputation?"

The second example began at the Maine Business Expo. I met the owner of a company there and was impressed with his helpful, customer-friendly attitude. I sized him up as someone who cares about his customers, and who would be easy to deal with, even if things went wrong.

When I called his business, I looked forward to the same refreshingly friendly, concerned customer service that made me choose his business. Instead, the voice answering the phone was surly and irritated, as if yet another annoying life form, called The Customer, had interrupted her work.

Each time I called back to work out the details with a customer-service person, she answered the phone in the same churlish manner.

When I went to pick up my order, I was curious. What did this Rottweiler of a receptionist look like; what was she like in person? I was stunned when I cast my eyes on her. She was the same memorable receptionist I had encountered at another company that left me wondering each time I walked out to my car: "Why do they keep this woman?"

I figured some type of longevity guilt trip might be at play, but why would someone who clearly values customer service - the shop owner - hire someone so ill-suited to serving the public? Doesn't he realize how she's affecting the image he's worked to create?

Ask yourself the same thing about your employees. Do you know what reputation they are creating for your business? If you don't, find out, because they have far greater influence on your reputation and your brand than any advertising you're investing in.

They have far greater influence because experience trumps hype. More specifically, marketing experts are talking these days about how traditional avenues of brand-building are losing their power, due to the oversaturation of marketing messages. Inundated with "We're great" and "No, no, WE'RE great" advertising messages, the public simply tunes out.

Because of this, people rely even more on word-of-mouth advertising these days. You only get great word-of-mouth advertising, though, if you deliver a customer experience that leaves people thinking, "I wish EVERY business was like this place."

An acceptable experience doesn't move people to tell others. Bad experiences, though, make great stories and so each negative customer experience recruits another member to your business's Negative PR Firm.

Thus, smart business owners look at the experience their employees create and ask, "Does it leave customers wanting to come back and wanting to tell their friends great things about us?" Smart business owners also know that unless they have processes in place that allow them to get feedback on the service their employees deliver, they're flying blind.

Here's what to do: