Every Decision You Make In Business Involves 3 People

We’ve all been in meetings or workshops where someone has said something that you thought was profound or astute. Maybe, a statement or quote that resonates with you and you find yourself remembering it years later. When this happens to me, I usually take the principle I learned and apply it to a variety of other things.

Years ago I worked for a Fortune 500 company that provided constant ongoing training to its leadership team. We were always sharpening our skills and learning new ways to be effective leaders. During one of our meetings, the Vice President told us that as leaders we have the autonomy to do what we feel is necessary but understand that the decision we make will affect our customers, our employees, and the business. After that moment, every decision I made around business and customer service was applied to that principle. As entrepreneurs, every decision we make involves 3 people: 1 ) Your Customer, 2) Your Employee, and 3) Your Business.

Let’s start with your customer. When was the last time you made a decision about your business that was related to methods involving sales? During that decision making process did you think about how your customer or client would feel? I hope so, seeing as though how they feel about the product or service is the final step before purchasing. You want to be mindful that any decision you make relating to “how” you do business will have a direct impact on the people keeping you in business.

Now, let’s discuss your employee. For some, including myself, the only employee is yourself. The decisions you make, especially as a solopreneur, will have a direct impact on you. Your time, your resources, your finances, and your lifestyle all have limitations as well as requirements when you’re wearing several hats. Remember, you’re the CEO, the Chief Everything Officer. You’re responsible for doing it all. If you have more than one employee then you need to consider company culture and employee morale.  What about retention? It’s never too early for an entrepreneur on any level to think about what kind of culture you want your organization to have. Remember, that business decisions affect your employees, or contractors, and those individuals have a direct impact on productivity and customer service.

Lastly, but for sure not least, all decisions will have an affect on your business and it’s image. Remember that the decision you make represents your company brand. Does it fall in line with your mission statement or vision? Will it have an impact on sales, profit, and or growth? Does it represent what your organization stands for in the community? Denise Lee Yohn goes into great detail about brand representation in her book What Great Brands Do- The Seven Brand Building Principles that Separate the Best From the Rest. Think of your business as an individual. Every decision you make has a present and future effect on the subject.

Take the time to make informed decisions when it comes to your business.  Be proactive by considering all of the possible affects a decision will have on your customer, employees, and business.  Be gutsy but not impulsive.