Quality product / service = repeat business = higher revenue

We have been talking a lot this week about employee engagement and the effects on business. As a business owner, you know that it is critical to have repeat customers. Repeat customers only come from satisfied customers. Dissatisfied customers spend their money with your competition – if this is not the case, you are quite lucky and have a product the consumer cannot live without or is addicted to…

I have been working with a design firm on a new website. When I went to their office for the first time I was amazed by the culture. My meeting was scheduled at 10am, I arrived 5 minutes early and was promptly seated in a very comfortable lobby. As I sat on the couch employees would walk by to and from other offices, breakroom etc and not one walked by without asking if I had been helped or if I needed anything. I was thoroughly amazed that this group of computer programmers, web designers and geeks were so in tune with the customer. Certainly this will be a positive experience. I was meeting that day with the CEO/ Founder of the company who was consulting on our design project. Now that is dedication, he has 50 employees and he is personally taking care of us. That day I waited 45 minutes for the CEO to become available for our scheduled 10am meeting. I made excuses for him because of what I saw with the employees – surely this isn’t typical because look how great the employees are! That first meeting was in April, it is now July and we are still working on a very basic website. Why? All the happy and engaged employees are at each step waiting for approval from the boss to take care of the customer, because the CEO has not fully empowered his people to perform their job functions. Because the CEO is slow to return calls, he is disengaged with his customers. I wonder what his relationship and communication with his employees is like! The first meeting should have been the sign – I waited 45 minutes for him that day, and have waited days on end for return calls since. And I am the paying customer.

Creating a quality product or quality service takes time and effort. You have to have the right resources – technical, mechanical and human; you need to constantly examine your resources and systems for opportunities to improve and every person in the organization needs to be united behind  common values of which constant improvement should be one. My advice to this CEO:  it is time to look critically at the roles each person is playing in your business. When you were growing you probably were the best consultant for customers and should have been involved in each contract. Today you don’t have the time and as such you are telling your customers (those who pay you) that they don’t matter to your organization, independent of what great things your employees do. This type of introspection into yourself and company you built is never easy, but if you are to survive it must happen. I assure you that based on my experience I will not recommend this firm to anyone, nor will I use them in the future. Sad, the story started so well. If everyone in the organization is dedicated to delivering a high quality product or service, the customer comes back. When the customer comes back, they pay you again and again…