The Biggest Avoidable Risk in Business

Alain, a manager and sponsor of one of my speaking tours, introduced me by telling the audience about his shopping experience at a business that sold high end technology. He explained how the company had obviously spent millions of dollars on buildings, equipment, inventory, salaries, insurance, and advertising. However, the employee who interacted with him appeared to be having an off day and didn’t seem concerned about whether Alain found what he needed. “In other words,” Alain continued, “The company invested all that money building a brand to bring customers like me in the door. But one employee not being trained properly, meant all that money was wasted.” The lesson is your team members ARE your brand. It only takes one untrained employee to eliminate brand value. Managers who neglect to train their team members on how to build trust, are subjecting the company’s resources to substantial unnecessary risk.