It’s Not Just Your Customers Who You Need To Keep Happy
Keeping customers happy is important for your company’s reputation – but they’re not the only people you should be trying to please. There are others who can put your company into disrepute or damage your company’s productivity if you fail to meet their needs. Here are just some of the people to keep happy in order to run a successful business.
Your employees
Failing to build a good rapport with your employees could be just as damaging as failing to keep customers happy. The likes of Glassdoor now allow employees to give reviews of companies they’ve worked for – a negative review could put people off working for your company and affect your ability to attract the best staff out there. Unhappy employees are also likely to be less productive and less loyal, causing all kinds of problems for your business. There are lots of ways to keep employees happy from improving the work environment to offering good incentives. Talk to your employees if you think they’re unhappy to find out what they want – communication is key and will build trust. All in all, make your employees feel valued by recognising their achievements and strengths.
Your suppliers
Suppliers don’t expect much other than to be paid on time – by managing this you should keep them happy. You can go the extra mile in keeping them happy by promoting and endorsing their work. Not keeping suppliers happy could affect the quality of service that you receive (if you owe them lots of money, they may even decide to terminate your contract and stop doing business with you altogether).
Your neighbours
You should also make sure that your business practices aren’t affecting the community around you. Neighbourhood complaints could get media attention, which could damage your reputation, or they may result in local authorities getting involved. If you own a bar or restaurant for example, you may want to look into a company like Backflow Prevent to stop backflow contaminating your local water supply, plus you may want to look into soundproofing and take steps to reduce noise in the evening. You can take extra steps to make your neighbours happy by giving them customer discounts or even promoting local businesses – by doing something for your neighbours, they will respect you more.
Business authorities
Business authorities may include tax inspectors, health and safety inspectors and various other custodians of business law. It’s vital that you keep these business authorities happy by running a law-abiding business, otherwise you could find yourself getting fined and attracting negative media attention. Taking steps such as hiring an accountant to keep your books in order and organising a health and safety audit using a company such as McCormack Benson can ensure that you’re keeping within the law.
Yourself
It’s important to also look after yourself. If you’re overworking yourself and having to deal with immense amounts of stress, you could grow demotivated, as successful as your company may be. It could affect your physical and mental health and affect life outside of your business. Make sure that you’re happy by giving yourself a break when you need it and knowing when to get help rather than taking on everything yourself.