I was talking with my friend Beth about her job. She works as an office manager for a local car repair shop. She was venting a little bit about the one co-owner, Marty. In general he isn’t very nice to her and treats her as if she doesn’t know any thing about cars. But what he failed to realize is she is the voice of his business and makes a lot of decisions about what work is done and who does it because she is the one who answers the phone and sets up appointments.
The business is setup based on commission. Who does the work, is who gets paid. As appointments goes Beth use to be fair about giving each owner a fair set of work so they would both make the same amount of money. But since Marty has been nasty to her she started giving Bob, the other owner all the good high paying appointments while Marty is left with the not so desirable appointments.
Beth confessed she has probably passed Bob $20,000 worth of commissions over Marty in the past 8 months. This is all because Marty is rude to her. Yes, what Beth is doing is a little devious but she proves a good point. Beth really affects how much revenue a business brings in. If she wanted she could turn away customers or under charge customers, etc. Bob or Marty would probably never know.
Beth, by no means is in charge but she does play an important role in the business. One that is almost, if not more important than the mechanics.
My point is even though you might consider an employee low on the totem pole, they can and do play an important role in your business. This also goes for the other businesses you interact with. Just because you talk to the receptionist doesn’t mean she doesn’t have any pull. Just a food for thought.
