Set the right tone
When you see Rick and Rita Case at work, you’ll see them dressed just like the people who work for them. Employees wear Rick Case shirts and name badges every day and so do the Cases.
It’s a simple thing, but Case says it sets a tone for his employees that he does not see himself on a pedestal above them. It helps reinforce the idea that both he and his employees are working toward a common goal to make the business successful.
“We don’t ask our people to do something that we don’t do ourselves,” Case says. “Practice what you preach. If you have policies and procedures, as all companies do, the owner or the CEO has to live up to it. We require all of our people that come in contact with customers to have their business cards with their home and cell phone numbers on it. We both do the same. Every customer gets my home number and my cell phone number.”
Case promotes a motto of treating every customer and co-worker as though he or she is your best friend. He embeds that notion in his people’s heads through constant communication and culture cards that are given to each employee.
But the most effective way to make a desired behavior stick is to practice it yourself. That is why Case and his wife spend time on the floor interacting with customers and answering their questions.
It’s another means of stepping down from your pedestal as the CEO and putting yourself in to the shoes of your employees.
The goal is to give employees a little pause before they walk up to a customer who has come on to the lot or entered the showroom.
“They know if their best friend is coming in for service or to buy a car or for anything, they are going to be treated a little different than they would just a regular customer coming in off the street,” Case says. “Everybody thinks of a lot of different things they would do in different circumstances if it was their best friend they were dealing with.”
Case says he is not looking for employees to all be best friends with each other and go to ballgames or spend their weekends together. His goal is to build an atmosphere of respect by showing his employees that he and Rita respect what they do and appreciate their contribution to the company.
“We try to know everybody’s name and know a little bit about their family and just things like that to put us on the level with them,” Case says. “We’ll get managers together or salespeople and talk about how things are going. What are the customers saying? We give them our ideas on how we should handle any situations they might have.”
Each month, Case hosts a kickoff meeting at each of his dealerships. It’s an opportunity to review what has happened over the past month and provide first-person updates on what’s going on for the month ahead.
“They see us there, and they see us talking about these policies and procedures,” Case says. “It’s mainly a pump-up meeting just to let them know that we’re real people and we’re out there and we really care about them.”
It sets a tone that the attitude and behavior that the Cases talk about in company meetings are more than just lip service.
“You give people direction; make sure you are going in the same direction,” Case says. “If you have a process, make sure you follow the process. If you have a uniform policy, you wear the uniform. Lead by example.”
