Show your human side
Success in business is not always just about finding ways to
generate more revenue or figuring out how to sell more widgets
from one year to the next. If you want enduring growth and a
culture to support it, you need to be mindful of your place in the
community you call home.
“Develop relationships in the financial community,” Mays
says. “Develop relationships in the education community. It’s
not always what I say, but it’s what other folks say about me
and the company. Whether it’s Indiana University, where I have
three degrees, or whether it’s from some other institution or
charity, we underestimate the benefit of doing public service.”
Mays says his company gets many more requests for charitable support than he can accommodate, but he still responds to
each and every request.
“Obviously, we can’t make financial contributions to every
good cause out there,” Mays says. “We indicate, ‘We’re sorry,
we can’t do this at this point, but perhaps next year.’
We’ll get back responses that say, ‘I really thank you for considering this request. We send out so many, and we never hear
back.’”
Encourage your employees to support the community through
toy collections or book drives or another charity that has special
meaning to them. Promote group activities to help them feel like
they are part of a family at your company.
“We give turkeys out on Thanksgiving,” Mays says. “No big
deal, but it was amazing how many e-mails I got thanking me
for that little gesture. It didn’t cost the company an arm and a
leg to do that. And they didn’t have to take it. They could donate
it to charities and several did.”
The proof that Mays is doing it the right way is reflected in
the number of employees who will step up during off hours to make sure the job gets done.
“We have employees that will actually come in on Saturday or
Sunday to get a shipment out or to get something ready or get
paperwork ready,” Mays says.
“We pay them a little bit for that, but there are other organizations that, in fact, would love to have the conscientiousness
of an employee that says, ‘Hey, it’s very important that the company looks good and that we get this shipment out. It’s job
security for me because if we don’t do this and we lose this
customer, I could be out of a job.’
“It’s instilling the fact that it’s a team effort, and the more successful the company is, the more benefit for everybody on the
team.”
HOW TO REACH: Mays Chemical Co. Inc., (317) 842-8722 or www.mayschem.com