I do ask myself that question quite often. All it take is to go out to buy something and I’ll ask again, why do entrepreneurs allow employees to kill their businesses?
This week there was the bad PR case with Taco Bell. An employee posted a picture on social media of him licking some taco shells.
Guess what? It went viral really fast. On the same day that Mashable posted the story, it had over 6,000 shares. On Taco Bell’s Facebook page, 3,000 shares. That is just two places. The damage can be huge to the company. Even though I’m not a big fan of fast food, I for sure plan not to get anywhere near a Taco Bell in the future. One guy, one picture and a huge nightmare.
Now you might be saying that no one could really avoid this type of thing. Well, maybe with some very specific training you could. Not just training on how to handle food and customers but training about the company’s values, level of engagement they expect from employees. Also public stand on what you believe in. At Taco Bell’s Facebook page there is only a small comment from the company saying that they take this type of stuff very seriously. Well, we all hope you do.
Two days ago I went to a Petsmart near my home to gt some things for my dog Apple and my cat banana. One of the things I wanted was a new mat to put under my cat’s food tray. I saw some in clearance but they all had issues. On the proper isle I saw other mats and picked one and was looking at the prices. An employee comes and asks if I need any help. I said “I’m thinking of buying a mat for my cat but think these prices are really high”. She replies “They are. They are really expensive. I would never get one here, I’d go to Walmart”.
She was very nice but I felt guilty that I was even holding the mat and I did put it back.
Now, how can someone that works for you, tell customers to go buy some place else. Because of price?
I bet she is well trained on how to deal with customers but how much does she really know about the company, how much of the company’s culture is presented to her on a daily basis?
Unbelievable!
One of my clients has a restaurant. Every time there is a new promotion, survey or flyer he tells his employees what they have to do. They never do. They decide what is important or not. Not the owner.
Now, why are they making decisions? Why no one demands that orders be followed?
What is going on in business today?