Who Is the Boss?

Show them you know who's boss!

I have asked thousands in audiences across America, "Who signs your paycheck?" This is the same question I used to open my book, Repeat Business: Six Steps to Superior Customer Service. I actually make a test out of this question. When audience members pass the test, they get to choose a free book of their choice from the ten books I have written. I seldom get the correct answer and don't give away many books. The correct answer in a free society is the customer!

There's only one boss, whether a person shines shoes for a living or heads the largest corporation in the world, the boss remains the same - it's the customer. They are the person who pays everyone's salary and who decides whether your business succeeds or fails. And they don't care if a business has been around a hundred years. The minute it starts treating the customer badly, those customers put it out of business.

The boss, the customer, has purchased, and will purchase everything you have or will ever have. They have bought all of your clothes, your home, your car, they pay for your children's braces and for your vacations. The customerpays all of your bills, and pays them in exact proportion to the way you treat them.

The person who works deep inside a big air conditioned office or a hot auto manufacturing plant on an assembly line might think they are working for the company that writes their paycheck, but they are not. They're working for the person who buys their computer programs or car at the end of the line. In fact, the customer can fire everybody in the company from the President on down. And they can do it by simply spending their money somewhere else. Remember Blackberry cell phones? This is one of the reasons why taking pride in the work we do is so important. Aside from the joy that comes from performing with excellence, pride in a job we do well will help you get more customers, keep the customers you have, and ensure your weekly paycheck keeps coming. This is why leaders must create a climate that encourages innovation, both large and small innovations, to reduce costs, increase quality, respond to customer needs and desires faster!

Some of the largest companies that had flourishing businesses a few years ago are no longer in existence. Remember Montgomery Ward, Blockbuster, and Borders? They couldn't or didn't satisfy the customer. They forgot who the boss really was. They forgot who signs their paycheck.