In every economy, businesses succumb to the temptation to cut corners to make a little bit extra on a particular transaction or overall. While the virtues of thrift go directly to positive associations of character traits, within companies and businesses you often find the hypocrisy of management verbalizing the strains of hard times while only the workers earn little and are asked to cut corners. This character flaw impacts credibility within and eventually outside a company or organization. When times are difficult, the “we’re in it together, approach is the ONLY approach effective managers should use. Pretending that managers are “suffering” to the same extent as employees when increases are suspended, for example, is a common and ineffective means of saving money because people aren’t stupid and they will immediately jump ship when alternative jobs come along. The people a company has are its strength and that’s why along with thrift, loyalty, fairness and humility are also virtues emphasized in our society. While using cheaper pens might be an alternative, suspending increases, cutting hours, and expecting more from current employees while maintaining management’s status and salary is a sure loser for companies.
Always Have People available with the competence and authority to be able to help
In the 1990’s, the use of technology to avoid providing actual customer service took off as answering machines, voicemail, email and the like became new layers of avoiding actual interaction between human beings and companies. Today, we all have experienced companies that loop you through so many layers of clearance before you ever reach a person that consumers are often left without satisfactory responses to their inquiries and complaints. Today’s businesses could save themselves money, improve their quality and build customer relations and therefore add new customers by doing away with the endless operators at the end of 800 numbers. Instead, spend the money to always have a staff of qualified people with whom consumers can speak. Shutting down lines of communication never means that you will shut people down completely. If a company doesn’t respond, then the Better Business Bureau, a government agency, or even a consumer website will become the channel that unhappy consumers will follow. Fewer detours and definitely fewer individuals who are reading from a script will save companies money that they can pay to qualified customer service representatives.
When times are good work extra hard to avoid arrogance
Arrogance in the business place is more common than ants at a picnic, but the glory days of people kissing manager butts and putting up with bullying ended with the harassment laws that are decades old at this point. When times are good, feel good but never isolate yourself from employees or shut yourself off from complaints. Arrogance is the biggest risk that those who are successful in business face because it shuts them off from the dynamic world and places them in an artificial and static spot that creates the risk of them becoming irrelevant.
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