Keeping your business in the positive public eye is essential. One wrong move can inspire countless “boycotts” of your products, and may incite legal action against you. The best cure for this is preventing problems in the first place or penalizing bad action within your company as soon as it occurs.
Not Paying Taxes
If you have avoided paying taxes throughout your business’s life, you could be facing serious trouble. Tax evasion is one of the most common federal crimes that occurs. It is illegal and reflects poorly on the company and the business owner. Before you know it, you will have no money due to legal fees and government fines. Nothing will sink a business faster.
Obviously, the best way to stay out of trouble is by paying your taxes annually. Start the process early. If you don’t like doing it yourself, hire an accountant to handle your business’s financial paperwork. While you may have to pay a high price, it may be worth it to you.
Failing to Protect Employees
Employee mistreatment will also get you under the magnifying glass of the press. You may face problems by not protecting or informing your employees of potential hazards. Some companies overwork their employees—causing permanent health problems and mental health collapses.
As the employer, you should seek to protect your workers by any means necessary. Knowing your incident rate is crucial to understanding the risks your employees face. Perform frequent equipment audits. If the work you need done is insurmountable for the team you have, hire more people instead of keeping them around for exorbitant amounts of time.
Bad Customer Service
One bad phone call with a customer could put your business in serious scrutiny. In the worst-case scenario, your business could suffer major lawsuits that plummet your business’s ratings. How does a business recover from such a situation?
The solution to bad reviews is more communication. Talk with people who seem upset about their experience. Get all the facts from the employee in question, the customer, and follow through on logical decision-making. Hire the best people for customer service jobs that you can. Put them through annual training and take action to fire them if necessary.
By making sure your business is healthy and thoughtful from within, you will prevent serious threats against you in the future. Train your customers, pay your taxes, and protect your employees. These actions will keep your business afloat and prevent debilitating problems.
