What Do You Do When an Employee Tries to Steal Your Customers?
Every small business person has a story of an employee who took all that knowledge, and information that the small business had and then tried to use that information to compete against them, often trying to steal their customers, clientele, and long-standing vendor relationships.
It's too bad this occurs, but it does prove there is a need for employment contracts, and non-compete agreements.
Having been in business all my life, I cannot tell you the number of times this has happened to me and even with the contracts people would still try to pull a fast one.
They would quit and then put the business of their wife's name, or go into partnerships, or form a Corporation and try to hide the fact that they were one of the legal owners.
Sometimes I wish there was more integrity of the world, but I understand how humans are and how they operate.
As a franchisor it happens all the time with franchisees who reneged on their franchise agreement, fail to pay royalties, even threaten to sue us, only to then take all of our information to try to compete against us.
One of the biggest dilemmas I believe is that humans are really good at imitating, and it makes sense due to their evolutionary process and climbed to the top of the food chain.
Not long ago, I was doing some consulting work for a small business, and I explained that they needed to watch out to make sure that no one who was working for them tried to steal their trade secrets, and use those to compete against them along with trying to steal her clientele.
Cannot they told me? He stated; "We've already been burned once and I think we may be again in the near future.
" Yes, that is the problem with low-capital entry level business models.
And there is not a lot of employee loyalty in this sector, and the customers are not loyal either, at least on the private vehicle side.
Fleet owners are loyal if the price is decent, and the service is awesome.
Of course, you already know all that.
They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, but it's not very flattering when year ex-employees, who probably weren't very good employees in the first place, go behind your back, and badmouth you to your current clientele and customers, only so they can steal them.
Basically they slander your company, and then give a lower price to win over the customers.
Worse, is when you're loyalist customers jump ship, after all the hard work you put into servicing their needs, giving them a fair price, and being at their beck and call.
These are all things that small business people must do or, and it's unfortunate that the general public doesn't understand these realities, and that so many people want to raise the taxes on small-business owners who make over $250,000 per year.
For some reason the small business person is now the bad guy.
However, I want all small businesses out there to know that I understand, and you are not alone.
This is been going on for decades, and if you don't believe me just read Ray Kroc's book; "Grinding It out" as the founder of the franchising chain McDonald's spills his guts and explains how many people tried to take advantage of him in his early days.
Indeed I hope you will please consider all this.
It's too bad this occurs, but it does prove there is a need for employment contracts, and non-compete agreements.
Having been in business all my life, I cannot tell you the number of times this has happened to me and even with the contracts people would still try to pull a fast one.
They would quit and then put the business of their wife's name, or go into partnerships, or form a Corporation and try to hide the fact that they were one of the legal owners.
Sometimes I wish there was more integrity of the world, but I understand how humans are and how they operate.
As a franchisor it happens all the time with franchisees who reneged on their franchise agreement, fail to pay royalties, even threaten to sue us, only to then take all of our information to try to compete against us.
One of the biggest dilemmas I believe is that humans are really good at imitating, and it makes sense due to their evolutionary process and climbed to the top of the food chain.
Not long ago, I was doing some consulting work for a small business, and I explained that they needed to watch out to make sure that no one who was working for them tried to steal their trade secrets, and use those to compete against them along with trying to steal her clientele.
Cannot they told me? He stated; "We've already been burned once and I think we may be again in the near future.
" Yes, that is the problem with low-capital entry level business models.
And there is not a lot of employee loyalty in this sector, and the customers are not loyal either, at least on the private vehicle side.
Fleet owners are loyal if the price is decent, and the service is awesome.
Of course, you already know all that.
They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, but it's not very flattering when year ex-employees, who probably weren't very good employees in the first place, go behind your back, and badmouth you to your current clientele and customers, only so they can steal them.
Basically they slander your company, and then give a lower price to win over the customers.
Worse, is when you're loyalist customers jump ship, after all the hard work you put into servicing their needs, giving them a fair price, and being at their beck and call.
These are all things that small business people must do or, and it's unfortunate that the general public doesn't understand these realities, and that so many people want to raise the taxes on small-business owners who make over $250,000 per year.
For some reason the small business person is now the bad guy.
However, I want all small businesses out there to know that I understand, and you are not alone.
This is been going on for decades, and if you don't believe me just read Ray Kroc's book; "Grinding It out" as the founder of the franchising chain McDonald's spills his guts and explains how many people tried to take advantage of him in his early days.
Indeed I hope you will please consider all this.