Brian A. Rott nearly had tears in his eyes at what he saw as he toured available office spaces for his expanding businesses, Cart Mart Inc. and Superior Onsite Service Inc.
“The desk was left with his dried up coffee ring on the desk. … Post-Its still on the walls. Photographs stapled to cubicles,” he says. “It’s like they just closed down. Companies that they would advertise on TV and family-run businesses. Done. It’s just heartbreaking.”
As president and CEO of the golf car company and the golf car service company, he navigated his 48 combined employees through 2009 without a single layoff. In fact, he acquired his largest competitor in the area last year, resulting in his need for new office space, and he added a 401(k) matching program to show how committed he was to them.
“I just figured if I’m going to invest in anything, I’m going to invest in the employee base and keep people motivated,” he says.
Smart Business spoke with Rott about how to run your business effectively during a downturn.
Build trust with customers. If you maintain good relationships with your customers and especially your suppliers, then your business can sustain a downturn regardless of the economics.
We have great relationships with our suppliers, and we pay them on time regardless of how much we’d like to hold off another two weeks. In turn, we get our equipment and supplies fast and get maybe better service because they’re thrilled that we’re strong. Look at who are your best customers, and you take care of them even more so during the downturn. It just works.
You have to run an honest organization and not panic like so many people do or have done. The key is to always deliver what you say you’re going to deliver when you say you’re going to deliver it. Never let them down. That’s business 101, and always take care of your customers. Our customers could be a private golfer that has one little golf car that we sold them for $1,000 all the way to the National Football League, who might be renting 500 golf cars to run the Superbowl, and they each have a legitimate need at any given time. That little old lady who bought the $1,000 golf car could be stuck on the course, and she needs help. You have to be able to provide the service. You can never tell people you’re too busy. No matter how big or how small, you’ve got to take care of them. Reliability in today’s market is everything for most companies. I’d pay more, and you’d probably pay a little more, to know you’ll get the job done right. Have you ever worked on your house and called the plumber, and he’s four hours late and he doesn’t show up at all and he doesn’t call? We try to look at the obvious Business 101-type things and just be there.