...The Customer Pays

“It’s not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It’s the customer who pays the wages.” – Henry Ford

I posted this quote on Facebook today and started really thinking about this concept.  It really is true.  Employers handle the money to pay the employees and the money always comes from the customer.  So again we have the discussion of how important customers are to our business.  Yet, time and time again we all experience bad to really bad customer service.  And over and over we hear employees say they get no training or no training in customer service.  Why is that? 

Are employers and business owners too caught up in so many other things that they overlook the basic equation?  Good to great customer service equals more satisfied customers which equals more customers coming back and telling others about that business.  Now I’m no math genius, but this is a simple equation even I get. 

Are you as a business owner taking the time to train employees and also training them on great customer service?  Do you hang out and just listen to the way your employees treat your customers?  Do you always give great customer service?  If you can’t answer yes to any of these questions, you may need to reevaluate the customer service you provide. You and your employee paychecks depend on that.   

...More R-E-S-P-E-C-T

So in keeping with the theme of respect from my last blog, let’s talk about employees respecting their bosses.  This is a soap box of mine and has been for many years since I worked for a boss I had no respect for.  I worked with him in a  large nonprofit and we had a running argument over the saying lead by example.  He was the CEO of the organization but constantly came in late for meetings if he showed up at all, dressed in the summer like he was heading for the beach (cuts off and all) and made it clear that he hated to raise money (which is a lot of what he did). 

I went in to the job with a lot of hope, but left four years later, with little respect for him, the board, or the organization he ran.  I tried to fill in where he was slacking, ran meetings with or without him on time and told my employees that there was a dress code we all followed regardless of what he did.  This was probably one of the most stressful times of my life. 

Working for a boss who had no idea of the concept of leading by example was hard.  If you,  as the boss aren’t willing to do whatever it takes to run your business, why should your employees?  There should be no job you can’t or won’t do whenever it’s needed.  Our joke here is that we clean out the storage space, take out the trash and clean the toilets when we have to- it’s part of a nonprofit employee’s job.  And we do it when necessary.  So, think about how your employees view you and if you do the things you ask of them- it’s what leading by example is all about.  

Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I love that Aretha Franklin song Respect.  R-E-S-P-E-C-T - Find out what it means to me.  So what does respect mean to your employees?  What does respect mean to you?  

I hear a lot of complaints from employees regarding their bosses saying they don’t feel like they are respected. What exactly does that mean?  Wikipedia says: Referring only to a person-Respect is a positive feeling of esteem or deference for a person and also specific actions and conduct representative of that esteem.  

So, when you are working with your employees are you showing respect and receiving that in return? Do you listen to your employees ideas and give them merit?  When things go wrong are you a finger pointer- laying the blame on staff and yelling at them?  I have had employees tell me of how their bosses yell at them.  Yell at them?  Wow! 

Not only does a boss who yells at a staff person have no respect for their staff but little for themselves.  How do you even promote a positive work environment if staff always feels like they will get blamed for issues or worse yelled at by their boss?

Everyone deserves to have a work environment where they can feel comfortable, bring up ideas and be expected to pitch in when there is a problem, instead of being told it’s their fault.  No one wins and nothing is accomplished when that happens and chances are if you haven’t seen it already, get ready for a large staff turnover and expect it to keep happening as long as you have no respect for the people you hire.  

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Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

Novel Idea...Listening to your clients

I want to tell you about a business owner that my husband and I have worked with since we moved here seven years ago. His name is Rabih and he owns a construction company.  Since the first time we met, he sits down with us to discuss a project until we (usually me) feels comfortable with the price and the job. 

We started out with a screened in porch and deck on our house.   The first three contractors we met were not very helpful with the vision we had of the porch and the deck.  Neither were they willing to discuss how to make the project fit into our budget. They basically walked off the area, wrote up a sheet and gave us a price. When I tried to have discussions, they said the price was the price.

When Rabih got there I was not in a good mood, feeling like we were wasting time with yet another contractor who would not listen. I was pleasantly surprised when I told Rabih the price was too high and he responded with “Let’s go look at it again and make this work.”  What?  Make it work?  By the time we were done, we’d redesigned the project to fit our budget and we loved the whole thing.  In addition, every work crew shows up on time, works the whole day and finishes the project when Rabih told us they would. 

Unfortunately there are some things his company doesn’t do, so I have to use someone else for those projects.  But for anything he will do we call him.  He has replaced windows, siding, a fence and is getting ready to do a roof for us.  When our roof started leaking our first thought was to call Rabih.  We didn’t get a second quote because we knew it would be done right.  But the great part about Rabih is that he is used to me now. He knows he has to come in and listen to me complain about spending more money on our house. Then we have to negotiate the price. He allows time for me to have what my sister calls a “financial breakdown” (we don’t have emotional breakdowns just financial ones), then he knows we will be ready to sign a contract.  We actually laughed about the process the last time he was in because I told him I would not let anyone else work on our house now.  

So I guess the main message for business owners is when you have to give a quote, make sure you are listening to your potential client and you work with them to make the project fit for both of you.  

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Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter