Chase's Mission Main Street Grant recipient, Jennifer Constantine of JC's Pie Pops, sits down with CNBC's Marcus Lemonis to hear expert advice on how to grow her small business. From managing quality control and customer acquisition to growing margins and how to treat employees, these are tips all small business owners want to know.
As a recipient of Chase's Mission Main Street Grant, Jennifer Constantine, founder of JC's Pie Pops, received a coaching session with Marcus Lemonis, entrepreneur, investor and host of the primetime reality series, The Profit.
This is the third in a series of four articles in which we break down Lemonis' advice to Constantine so you can apply it to your business. The first article focused on optimizing profits, the second provided steps accidental inventors can take to turn their accident into a business, and this article focuses on the benefits of putting employees first.
"The customer isn't first, they're second," advises Lemonis. He is not alone in his belief. Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies, an IT services giant, wrote a book on this philosophy -- Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down –
Nayar's strategies for putting employees first are:
- Building trust by opening the books and sharing information
- Giving employees responsibility for change
- Making management accountable to employees
Additionally, Richard Branson of Virgin and Tony Hsieh of Zappos are big believers in the philosophy of putting employees first.
Branson believes that happy employees yield happy customers. Hsieh advises that if you get the company's culture right from the initial hiring stage, all will fall into place. During the hiring process, you need to focus on skills while communicating corporate values.
The heart of your company is your employees. Well trained, motivated employees produce quality products and provide quality service that satisfies customer needs.
Benefits include:
- Customer retention due to satisfaction results in savings.
- Employee retention with less disruption due to low turnover. Happy employees are less likely to leave their jobs.
- Time and cost savings because when employees leave, other employees have to pick up the slack while you recruit and train the replacement. This impacts your bottom line.
According to Zen Workplace, to replace an entry-level employee, costs range between 30% and 50% of their annual salary. For mid-level employees, it costs upwards of 150% of their annual salary to replace them. For high-level or highly specialized employees, you're looking at 400% of their annual salary.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) provides information on preparing your company for hiring its first employees.