Donna Genie advises small business owners to be intentional about their company culture rather than leaving it to chance. She emphasizes that culture is what guests first and last experience—so staff must be genuinely friendly, greet and help guests, and reflect the owner’s standards. Hiring the right "warm body" matters because employees who cannot relate to guests will harm repeat business; owners should model the behavior they expect and actively maintain or refresh their culture.
Chapters
Every organization has their own culture. Whether it's on purpose or by accident, they have a culture. What is your culture like for your business? Is your culture a friendly culture? Is it a formal culture? Do you expect that your staff will do the same things that a business owner would do? Or are they just paid by the hour to be a warm body and be a placeholder in life? Make sure that you are on purpose with your culture in your small business. It is the first thing and the last thing that every guest will see. Are you friendly to your guests? Do guests come in and just meander about in your business without ever being acknowledged by your staff? Or is every staff member told to make a good day for your guests? Make them notice you, say hello, be genuinely friendly. I know it's difficult to get staff these days and many people just settle for a warm body. However, you need to make sure that it's the right warm body. Somebody who you hire, who cannot relate or talk to your guests will deter them from ever coming back and not promote the experience that hopefully you want to promote as a business owner. We all have it in our head that I wish everybody could think like I I do as a business owner and think about how it reflects on the business. Now that's not possible. Not everybody has that mentality. However, culture promotes that. And you need to look at what culture you want to promote with your staff and you need to mirror it. So if you are telling your staff that when somebody walks in the front door, they should have a smile on their face, they should say hello, ask how they can help them and be genuinely helpful. The same applies to you as a business owner. Do you sneak in the back door when you're not in a good mood and try to get things and leave without even acknowledging your staff? Are you speaking to every guest who walks in the front door? And being the image that you want your staff to be, you need to think about it and be friendly and genuinely appreciate every guest who walks through your door. They all can walk through someone else's door too. So make sure that your culture is in line and work on it a little. It's not something that just happens without on purpose intent. So check out your culture. Give it a facelift if it needs it.
