One Way to Build a Successful Business

How you treat your people affects how they treat your customers.

Unhappy customers don't come back, while happy customers spend more and become repeat customers. So look after your people and watch your business grow. Need proof?

In the latest issue of Strategy + Business journalist Bridget Finn wrote the article "The Life Cycle of Great Business Ideas." Two quotes I found particularly relevant by Steve Wheeler I have included below. (Highlighting in bold by the editor)

"Sometimes it’s only the long-term comparison in performance that shows you what works. Jim Collins, a high school classmate of mine, wrote the best-selling book Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. If you had taken the 18 companies that were profiled in that book and invested in each of them over the next 10 years, you would have gotten about a 150 percent return.

That’s not too bad — until you compare it with an S&P 500 index fund, which would have given you a 250 percent return. And if you’d had the foresight to pick up a copy of Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For each year over that same period and just invested in the public companies, you would have gotten a 600 percent return.

So one way to build a successful business is to create an environment where people enjoy their jobs and are eager to work — in other words, a “best company to work for"." - Steven Wheeler

"I think the most interesting changes will come when people start being strategic about building the capabilities they need for long-term success and avoiding the boom–bust cycles that most companies go through." - Steven Wheeler

*Steven Wheeler is a former partner with Booz & Company and currently performs research, with the University of Southern California’s Center for Effective Organizations, on organization and leadership drivers of agility and sustained company performance.

Wegmans Food Markets comes in number 3 on the top 100 best companies to work for. Check out this short video on why staff and customers love Wegmans.

A 600% return on investment had you invested in the top 100 best companies to work for. Maybe there is something in this business strategy of looking after your people!

So the question for you is, "how are you treating your people?"

A tip... unfortunately your view is one of inside the bottle. You are going to answer that question based on your own experience.  The current mood and moral of staff in your business is one you have created. Are you big enough and brave enough to see your business real? Is it time you had an outsiders perspective?

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