The Real Face Of Your Business

When you think about the face of your business, what do you think about?

You might think about the way your office building looks. Or your thoughts might wander to how you look today. Or still, it could be towards the vehicle you drive.

With a lot of leaders, they think the face of the business is their office building or themselves. If this is how you think, you’re wrong. And you’re heading for trouble.

Getting caught up in what we think is the face of our business is so easy to do. We may see the building every day. We definitely look at ourselves in the mirror every day. And we know what we drive.

We begin to feel WE are the face of the business. After all, we’re the owner or we’re the leader of the business. Why shouldn’t the face of our business be ourselves?

Know Your Customer

Imagine walking into your favorite store. The owner greets you by name. Asks how your spouse is doing. Inquires about new events in your life. They get to know their customer.

You’d be pretty impressed, wouldn’t you?

This is the type of service I love to receive from the stores I visit. Personal, friendly, hometown.

There’s two places locally that I receive this type of service.

The first is an old-time candy shop called Lakeside Emporium. It’s run by Gary and Lori. Whenever we walk into the store, a few things happen.

  • We’re greeted by name
  • If my wife is not with me (or I’m not with her) they will ask us where she is and how she’s doing
  • They ask if I want my regular treat. That would be a bear claw for me

The Most Important Impression

You often hear that first impressions are the most important. You only have one to make.

And while first impressions are important, I don’t believe they’re the most important.

It’s the most recent negative impression that’s the most important.

Image by Jan Tik

Let me share a story with you.

When I started to improve my fitness level, I started to eat yogurt. Every weekday I would enjoy a cup.

For almost a year everything was great. My opinion of the yogurt company continued to rise as I had a positive experience.

But something happened a couple of weeks ago.

I opened a cup and scooped the yogurt off of the lid. The spoon touched my tongue and I almost gagged.

While the yogurt on the lid looked normal, the yogurt inside of the cup had started to mold. It no longer tasted like strawberry banana but of mold.