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.
Image by Rowan Gillette- Fussell
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?
This line of thinking is wrong. In fact, your business is headed in the wrong direction if you think you’re the face of the business.
The Real Face Of Your Business
Do you want to know who the real face of your business is? I’m sure you’re itching to know.
The real face of your business is the people who interact with your customers on a daily basis. The ones who tell the customers yes or no. The ones who answer the phones or take inquiries.
Your employees are the ones who truly represent your business. They’re the face your customers are seeing.
I recently had a negative experience at a national chain store and it’s changed the way I view that retail store.
After seeing an online ad that stated the price of a Roku 3, I went into the store to purchase the streaming media player. At checkout, I was told a different price and then to go to the customer service desk.
Bad business lesson 1: By being sent to another section of the store, I had to take more time out of my day. This made me feel less important and that the employee didn’t care about me. I had to jump through another hoop to get the product I wanted.
When I arrived at the customer service desk, there were 2 employees standing at the desk. They asked what I needed help with. I politely told them the cashier had sent me over to customer service to get a price adjustment on the Roku unit.
In doing so, I showed them the online ad with stating the price. Both employees looked shocked and didn’t know what to do.
Bad business lesson 2: When your employees don’t know what to do in a customer service situation, it looks bad for your business. Employees at the front line of your business are the ones who either make or break the customer experience. Being clueless does not bode well for the company.
There was a bit of back and forth about the pricing issue. At one point I was told I didn’t know what the item was and that the price was for the Roku Stick and not the Roku 3. The image clearly showed both but I was told I was wrong and there was nothing they could do about the price mistake.
Bad business lesson 3: When there’s a mistake, take responsibility for the mistake. Don’t brush off the mistake and make the customer feel they’re at fault.
I eventually left the store without making the purchase. Not only that, I left with a lower opinion of the store.
Why?
Because I dealt with the real face of the company. It wasn’t the upper management. It wasn’t the owner of the company. And it wasn’t the stockholders.
The real face of the business was the employees I dealt with that day.
Never Forget
While it may be easy for you to forget who customers will view as the face of your business or organization, you’ve got to keep the truth front and center. The attitudes and actions of the people your customers deal with will be the ones they view as the face of your company.
When those employees aren’t performing to the expectations of the company, your business will suffer. Customers will begin to think less of your business. Eventually choosing to do business elsewhere.
Question: Have you lost sight of who’s really the face of your business? Why do you think this is? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.