Would you agree that people within a group tend to act like the other people within that group?

Perhaps you’ve noticed a difference in how people act  at a church event, or at a pregame tailgate party, or when at work? The environment makes a difference in the culture.

Typically, we act like the people we are around and when we are “at work”, we tend to act towards others as our fellow employees, managers included, act towards us.

This group mentality is its culture. And this culture dictates the way employees treat their fellow employees and customers.

How much do you and your fellow employees care about each other and your customers?

What kind of attitude does your company culture cause?

If there truly is a sense of care and concern within the company, then customers are probably well served, too.

There are lots of articles, books, videos and speakers that endorse, teach and define the qualities and components of great customer service, but great customer service is simply people caring about other people.

And within every company, culture starts at the top with the person in charge, the owner, CEO or President. It is this person’s attitude and treatment of their direct reports that is, or soon will be, the foundation of the company’s culture and customer service.

Every manager in between the top person and those who face the customers has a critical role to play too. It’s their care and concern for their direct reports that becomes the structure of the company’s culture and customer service.

And so, might you agree or have you noticed that smaller companies and companies where the founder is still actively involved; are these companies more caring of their people, more responsive and more customer oriented?

Does an owner operated company’s culture place a greater value on people, their employees and their customers?

When choosing suppliers, how important is customer service to you?

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Steve Gatter is a freelance writer and copywriter in Charlotte, North Carolina. He writes about small business, entrepreneurs and self-employed people; the challenges they face and the difference they make.