Tweet

Your employees are the first impression

Guest post by: Rene Truter

Article Overview: A major aspect of doing good business is that all-important "competitive edge". But don't look too far afield for ways to do this. Your biggest selling point could be the face your business presents to the outside world, and most often, that would be your employees.

Your employees are the first impression

A company's image can be its greatest asset or its biggest downfall. Large corporate companies know this too well and spend huge amounts of money on their corporate branding and reputation-building. This includes making sure that their employees live up to the company's good name.

As a small business, image is equally as important and the first place to start building your brand is by taking a step back and looking at the way you and your employees come across to your clients, customers and/or service providers.

Start with your employees

Often, the first impression a customer gets of your business, are their interactions with your employees. They are your strongest brand-builder and need to look and behave the way you'd like your company to be seen.

• Havea dress code: Have a standard dress code, even it's a casual one. Employees must look neat and presentable at all times. If necessary, provide branded t-shirts or uniforms
• Establish good etiquette: Ensure that all employees - from the receptionist through to the company driver - have been trained in good etiquette. A polite, friendly greeting, courteousness and a willingness to help will make a client keen to come back
• Internal interaction: Take note of how you and your staff speak to each other and what you talk about. There's nothing worse for a client than having to listen to employees complain about the boss or gossip about other customers. And they could also do without overhearing you screaming at a staff member
• A pleasant atmosphere: Yes, times are tough and business may be slow, but that is neither your employees nor your customer's fault. Take time to deal with negative feelings amongst employees and be a good example to them by keeping a positive outlook and upbeat demeanour at the office
• Make your employees feel appreciated: It's alot harderto present a friendly face whenyou feel overworked and under-appreciated. Make sure your staffknow how valued they are and that their good work doesn't go unnoticed
• Have fun at work: It's obvious when people are enjoying their work and feel motivated to help a customer. Being light-hearted and having fun does not necessarily mean that employees are slacking off, so encourage a good sense of humour and laughter in the workplace

Remember that many of these pointers apply to your service providers as well. You need their business as much as they need yours, and being unreasonable definitely won't make them want to go the extra mile for you.

None of these measures will cost you much money, but can go along way to creating a good image for your company. Start by setting standards for yourself and your employees, and then set about maintaining them.

Copyright© 2010 Business Partners Ltd. All rights reserved.

Related Articles
  First Impressions
  You’ve got 50 milliseconds to wow me
  Bridges and Walls
  One Last Rule Never Put Everything in Your Advertisement
  Plain English Guide to Employee Handbooks
  Dress for Success
  How To Leave A Lasting Impression
  Human Resources – Beyond Applications and Handbooks
  First Impressions
  PEOcompare Presents 5 ways to create a Culture of Teamwork and a great Business
  Companies are Investing in a New Kind of Customer Service.
  Shoes / Watch / Grooming
  Fast First Impressions
  First Impression is the Last Impression
  First Impressions Are Lasting Impressions
  Personal Branding: Make the Right First Impression
  Tips on creating documents to secure loans and investor funding.
  Imprinted Products Say ‘Thank You’ In A Special Way
  Effective use of CRM software
  Fitting In: From “On Staff” to “In the Know”

Article Tags: brand, competitive edge, emplyees, first impression, good business, image



Related Forum Posts
Women care about employees - I think women entrepreneurs care more about their employees than men so it makes sense that they would consider how the new owner would impact the employees.
Keeping Employees Happy - Here are three interesting ways from career coach Marty Nemko on how to keep employees happy: 1. Instead of hiring consultants to train employees, cater lunch once a month and rotate employees teaching co-workers what they know best. 2. Do the employees hate tough customers? Shunt them all to one volunteer employee who gets special recognition or combat pay. Matt Weinstein, CEO of PlayFair, tells of a bank manager who awards a magnum of wine to the teller who, that week, served the most difficult customer. As a result, instead of trying to avoid difficult customers, most tellers actually look forward to them. 3. Give employees a frequent chance to earn small rewards combined with public recognition: sports tickets, free meals, or on-the-spot cash. But Lynn Halpin, CEO of Detroit Edison, warns that this better be part of a comprehensive plan. "If you work for Attila the Hun, someone handing you $50 is like rubbing salt in a wound."
And Commitment From Above... - In my experience in larger organizations, there is often a conflict between the training the sharp-end employees receive and that of the more senior managers. That sometimes means the employees feel 'done to', and don't have the belief that their bosses will be on board too. That means they feel pretty disgruntled about the organization too and higher leaving/absence rates can be the more obvious symptoms, with deeper resistance, even sabotage being quite possible too. For example, sending a bunch of employees on a gung-ho selling skills programme (with a fancy lunch included), is incongruous with not getting their pay check right or management not building good relationships with their people. The key here is understanding what training will help employees deliver the needs of the business as well as ensurinjg it is of value and in context for the individuals too. If it's not a win-win (in the bigger picture of their workplace experience too), it's just not going to fly. Sending someone on a training courtse is not a 'fix-it' for all that ails an organization.
A regular employee or a contracted employee? - Thank you Louis, Also in Japan, an employee is an employee. In my opinion, contracted employees don’t receive enough training. And they are often engaged in routine chores. Which factors should we choose about hiring regular or contracted employees? I choose contracted employees if I hire someone engaged in routine chores. On the other hand, I choose regular employees if I hire someone engaged in important duties. One of the most important factors especially for an entrepreneur is wages, too. What do you think?
Re: Should you hire ambitious workers or employees with no goals - [quote="BuzzAroundBooks":2ijq3b5e]As a small business owner, should you hire ambitious workers or employees with no goals? My friend's father is a relatively successful entrepreneur and it's his belief that you should primarily hire employees with no ambition because you can get away with paying them less and they're less likely to leave (thus saving you money from a high turnover rate). "Grunts" are the way to go, even though ambitious workers are typically smarter. What do you think?[/quote:2ijq3b5e] I say YES to hirin employees with no Goals!!! they make great "front-line" employees as long as you have carefully documented your process for them to follow. They typically are open to perform routine administrative tasks and they work for a much lower wage. I know what I've said is pretty gloomy but it's reality from my experience. Occasionally one of the "employees with no goals" will stand up and say, "I love working here". You pluck these individuals and promote them to tasks which require more decisions.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

BUILDING A HIGH PERFORMING TEAM

The Substance Abusing Employee

The Future of Online Marketing

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.