A company’s most important, and often most overlooked, customers are its own employees.
Traditional companies ask: Are we paying them enough? Are we training them well? Are we giving competitive benefits? Do they take too many sick days? Can we trust them?
But how about also asking: Do we talk to them enough? Are they happy with their lives? Do they have the right support and friends at work? Have they found a home with our company? Can they trust us?
Companies that ask these questions don’t have a retention problem. They bleed their culture. The people are the business, and it’s a caring, two-way street. I call it compassion. And at The Dwyer Group, it can’t be helped.
When you spend as much time together as we do, you can’t help but get close to your team. It’s difficult not to hurt when they are hurting, or get excited when they are excited for reasons outside of the workplace. I think female intuition comes in handy here, and luckily there’s no social stigma attached with a female Executive Chairwoman showing a little emotion for her team. The end result is that it brings us all closer together in our business culture, and that’s a winning combination.
At the age most people start thinking about retirement, Carla Tanner was getting started on a wonderful career at The Dwyer Group. She’s a part of that winning combination.
Carla had dropped out of school in the eighth grade. She got married at eighteen, had a child, and found herself divorced at nineteen. She has worked hard at every job she’s ever had, and I’m guessing most employers had no idea what talent they had when they had Carla. But that’s not how The Dwyer Group works. We look for leaders. And several years ago, we found a leader in Carla.
After working for eight years at a title company in Waco, Texas, her position was eliminated after the company transitioned to more electronic systems. She took a job at Lowe’s in the garden department to earn a steady paycheck while continuing to keep an eye on the job boards. Carla saw an opening at The Dwyer Group in franchise sales. She called, interviewed, and was hired.
“I didn’t have a clue about franchising when I started,” Carla said. “I didn’t know how it worked. Every day I would get up and go, ‘Can I do this?’”
But Carla worked hard and learned the Dwyer way of doing business. That doesn’t mean she knows more about fixing an air conditioner than the technician on the phone doing repairs everyday trying to build a business at the same time. But it does mean she knows how the franchise system that we offer across our brands can help them.
“After I learned the system, I realized this company does change people’s lives,” Carla said. “I’ve listened to the testimonies of prospects that graduate from new-owner training and become franchisees, and once you start seeing that, it really touches you emotionally. It really inspires you [to see] that what you are doing makes a big difference not only in your life but in the lives of other people.”
Carla has learned a lot about franchise sales, but the greatest element she brought to the table that has contributed to her success is a compassionate heart and a listening ear and a willingness to climb into someone’s story and connect with them.
“One business man told me, ‘You changed my life, my employees’ lives and the Code of Values is now changing our families’ lives. So,’ he said, ‘your phone call has now changed hundreds of lives. We’re just so thankful that you called us.’ I was crying,” Carla said.
To hear Carla Tanner brings tears to my eyes, too, especially seeing her heart of compassion and purpose. She has brought so much value to The Dwyer Group.
Every associate appreciates a pat on the back for a job well done. But how long has it been since they got a friendly ear? How about the person on the other end of the phone? Understanding our customers’ needs [our associates’ and franchisees’ needs] in every situation is the difference to living R.I.C.H.
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Dina Dwyer-Owens is the Executive Chairman of The Dwyer Group, offering a wide variety of franchise opportunities.