Respect is attained by one of three methods. You can earn respect by being the best at what you do. This technique is the best, but it requires that people who respect you recognize you are the best at what you do. If they are too blind to acknowledge the fact that you are truly accomplished in your field, they may not respect you because their ignorance does not allow them to respect what they cannot see, even when it is in front of their eyes.

You can also gain respect through fear. People who fear you don’t want to confront you for any number of reasons. They may realize that they do not know as much about a certain issue that you are adept at when they are in a discussion with you. Or they may fear retribution if they confront you. 

The third way to gain respect is a combination of the first two methods. With this method, you can dazzle people with your intellect, ability and accomplishments, while fear increases your chances of getting their respect.

Regardless of which way you get respect, being respected is better than not being respected.

In the military, there is a chain of command. The higher ranks issue orders to the lower ranks, and the lower ranks follow those orders because the higher-ranked personnel earned their rank and right to issue orders. If the lower-ranked personnel do not follow orders, they may face court-martial. 

This is an example of the third aforementioned way to attain respect.

Police and firefighting organizations also follow the principles of rank and subordination when carrying out their supervisors’ orders. 

In the business world, higher-ranking positions tell lower-ranking positions what they want employees to do. If an employee doesn’t perform well, they risk being fired.

Regardless of the situation you are involved in, respect is a definite necessity in running a successful military operation, policing activity, firefighting situation or PHC business, whether it be for accomplishment, fear or both.

As an owner of a PHC business, you are responsible for everything that happens. 

If monetary obligations are due to be paid, you are responsible for paying them regardless of whether you have the cash on hand or must dip into your private funds so you can continue to operate your business.

That fact alone should give your employees cause to respect you and your position within the business entity. However, some employees have trouble seeing the forest because of all those trees in front of them.

Those employees put you in the position of making sure that they respect you for fear of losing their employment status. 

Happy and satisfied consumers

Regardless of employee types, you must have their respect to deliver excellence to consumers. Without it, the excellent quality of the services your business intends to provide to consumers will be in jeopardy. 

If consumers are not happy and satisfied with the service and professionalism your business offers, those consumers will not have respect for you or your business.

When consumers aren’t happy and satisfied, the only time they will call you back is to fix what they already paid you to do properly, or when you are the only PHC service business left on the planet. 

Obviously, in those instances, you are not creating the loyal clientele base needed to grow your business and give you the opportunity to be successful.

However, if your business delivers excellence to consumers and gives them value for the hard-earned dollars paid to your business, repeat business and recommended business will lead to your business’s success.

Train your techs

However, if your technical staff doesn’t respect you, they may very well do things in a way that doesn’t produce the excellence and value needed to serve consumers so they want to call you back.

This is why you must train your technical staff to perform each task in an excellent, professional manner, as if they were doing it for their own loved ones. 

Set an excellent example for your techs. Explain to them that they really have only one way to perform any task – the way you want it done. Compensate them in a fashion commensurate with their contribution to your business. 

Then you will gain their respect through your excellent method, proving you are an accomplished master of your trade. Their rewarding compensation fulfills their desire to work for your business; the fear of unemployment helps keep them in line.

With your intent to deliver excellence and your techs’ delivery of it, your business is two-thirds of the way to earning consumers’ respect.

Making a first impression

To reach the final third, your administrative staff must respect you. And regarding the chronological order of contact with consumers, your administrative staff is the first point of contact for consumers, since they answer the phones or handle online service requests.

And since you only have one chance to make a first impression, your administrative staff had better make that first impression an enticing one. If the attention they give consumers isn’t of a quality that builds confidence in consumers’ minds, your business and your techs may not get the opportunity to show consumers the excellent value your business can offer.

As it is with your techs, you must train your administrative staff in a pleasant, courteous and sincere way to address consumers’ requests. 

As the old saying goes, “You got to be in it to win it.”

Another adage states, “Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?”

Allow me to change that up a little bit. Without feelings of respect and confidence, what is there to distinguish the excellence your business delivers from the mediocrity of PHC contractors who deliver schlock?

Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life. Start with the intention of earning your employees’ respect, so you can have the opportunity to earn consumers’ respect and instill in them the confidence to always call your business for their PHC requests.