My First Month at FreshySites: Really? What is Best for the Customer, is Best for Us?
I’ve always enjoyed working for small businesses. I like the family feeling that it imparts: everyone has a role to play and, if they don’t do their job, then chances are good that the rest of the group will know about it. Working for a small business requires transparency (they’ll know if you screw up anyway), humility (yay! the learning curve!), and a good sense of humor (this one is self-evident, I think).
There’s much to admire in the household model of a small business. It keeps its costs low and thus remains stable and honest to its founding principles. This is especially important and something I really like about FreshySites. Because we don’t have big expenditures and big budgets, there is no pressure to oversell to our customers: the difference between short-term and long-term thinking.
By avoiding sales that might stretch our capabilities or put us in position to deliver inferior service, we ensure our reputation for the future. This mentality has been a huge inspiration to me in my FreshySites tenure. Are there times when risk is necessary? Absolutely. Growth is a sign of a healthy business, after all. But it’s good to work for a company that sees those risks as a larger strategy that extends many years into future, not just as short-term profit gains.
Riddle me this: have you ever worked for a company where you felt compelled, against your better judgment, to sell a product? Or perhaps you firmly believed in the quality of the product or service, but were forced to sell it in a manner inconsistent with the customer’s actual needs?
Either way, let me tell you, it doesn’t have to be that way. There are more and more companies out there who are doing things differently, and it is a relief to work for one of them. Customer service, you old dog, you may have stepped out of the spotlight for a while, but you’re back again: cheers!