The Importance of your Employees

On a recent weekend, I had a conversation with a friend over coffee about a couple of the employees at the coffee shop we were sitting in.

He told me about how two of the employees are hurting this coffee shops business.

Let's see if you can relate to these stories and if they are going on in your business, I hope you take appropriate action.

First off, the late employee.

Her job is to be there so they can open the doors and start serving customers at 6am. In order to do that, she should be there 30 minutes early to set up 3 or 4 coffee airpots where customers self-serve.

But she has a habit of showing up late. Sometimes as late as 6:30am. Morning customers usually have a time sensitive routine and an easy way to lose customers is to not have what they want when they want it.

So customers who used to stop by at 6:15 for a quick cup of Joe to go, are now going elsewhere, since this coffee shop is unreliable due to one employee. How much is this costing the coffee shop? More than that employee is paid per hour, that's for sure.

Next, we have the inconsiderate employee.

She has an attitude. She shows favoritism to some customers and others notice. Not only do others notice, but others talk about it too. Like my friend did over the weekend.

It all began with a comment about where this employee parks her car. She sometimes picks one of the prime spots directly in front of the coffee shop, which should be reserved for customers, not an employee whose car will be sitting there for 6 to 8 hours.

The owners of this coffee shop are aware of these two problems but choose to ignore them.

After all, the employees are friendly to them.

It's time for perspective that business owners often lack.

What matters most is how your employees are representing your company.

This is part of your marketing that not enough owners and managers consider.

And no amount of advertising can overcome crappy customer service.