The 3 B’s That Could Kill Your Business
November 29, 2007
There are 3 B’s you must keep out of your business – unless you want to suffer the consequences. These are backstabbers, blackmailers and blockheads.
At Kwik Fix, we’ve been lucky enough so far to avoid employing people with the above characteristics. But, just before I left Rainbow International, I spoke to a franchisee who unfortunately possessed all of the 3 B’s. And the sad fact is, he could have ruined the business for the entire network. And all because the company encouraged backstabbers, blackmailers and blockheads.
If you think I’m exaggerating the effect of employing any of the three B’s in your business, read on to discover just how harmful it could be:
We’ll call the above mentioned franchisee Mr B for simplicity. Now as you can imagine, one of the most dangerous things about franchising is that if a franchisee screws up badly, it can have a negative impact on the whole network. And of course, you wouldn’t expect a franchisee to screw up deliberately, because he’d be harming his own business too. If he did, he must be a real blockhead right?
Unfortunately Mr B was a blockhead, backstabber and blackmailer rolled into one. And here’s why:
1) He was a blockhead because he allowed his staff to make harmful videos about his own company, at work and broadcast them on You Tube. The videos were so bad that any customer viewing them would never have used Rainbow International again. And if an insurer, or competitor had seen them, the whole network would almost certainly have lost a big contract.
The videos featured idiotic practices such as a member of staff sitting on the toilet (with his trousers and underwear down). Staff smashing up customers furniture with a sledge hammer, dancing about on it and even pushing along furniture with a pick up truck. Now, I should imagine that much of this furniture would have been flood damaged, but this showed a massive lack of respect for the customers belongings. And the company logo was used throughout the videos, so there was no doubt as to which company was involved.
By the time I discovered the videos on You Tube, I only had a couple of weeks left with Rainbow. But, I was so upset that I had to turn one of them off half way through. I was worried that a) Some of my former customers would see it and think this is how Rainbow behaved throughout the network (and of course it wasn’t). b) The people who were buying my business would see it and be put off (and I wouldn’t have blamed them). c) A major insurer would see it and cancel a national contract, which would have had a detrimental affect on the businesses of the remaining franchisees.
2) He was a blackmailer: I emailed the franchisee involved as soon as I discovered the videos, and also two managers at Rainbow because I was desperate to get the videos removed at once. When he finally called me the following day, I expected him to want them taken down too. In fact, I thought he’d be devastated to discover that his staff had risked jeopordizing his business. So you can imagine how shocked I was to discover that he actually knew all about them, and had given his staff permission to make the videos at work and broadcast them on You Tube.
When I suggested that the videos be removed immediately, the guy said that would inconvenience one of his staff members on a Sunday. He then went on to tell me that he was very important and well thought of, whereas I was not.
Incase you don’t know, Rainbow are owned by ISS. And Mr B told me that he was so important that he had the direct line number to the office of one of ISS’s Directors and he had been told to call whenever he wanted something.
Now, the trouble is, when a blackmailer is given too much power, he doesn’t have to actually have anything on you to get away with the blackmailing. If he’s allowed to get away with what he wants, he can just make something up.
But, his tone changed dramatically when I told him I only had two weeks left with Rainbow anyway. Removing power from a blackmailer can be amazingly satisfying. Plus, he also had the videos removed immediately. In fact, I watched them being deleted on the computer screen whilst he was still on the phone.
So, how did he get away with all this? Because the company allowed and encouraged backstabbers.
3) He was a backstabber: When Mr B realised that I couldn’t be blackmailed and he’d just shot himself in the foot by threatening me, he attempted to get round me by sharing top secret info with me. He explained how he and three others had secretly arranged a meeting with the Director of ISS in attempt to have the Managing Director of Rainbow International sacked, and they had been successful.
Now, their reasons for doing so had been fair enough. They blamed him because the network had not been paid by RSA. He’d insisted upon collecting payments centrally and not put staff in place to do so.
But the way it was done was sneaky and ISS should not have encouraged franchisees to go about it in this way. For a start, they should already have been aware that their franchisees weren’t being paid anway. It is one thing to buy a business and not actually be involved in the day to day running of it. But to invest in a business, then forget about it completely is foolish.
And to encourage Mr B to backstab and give him a number he could use whenever he wanted anything was just plain stupid. Can you imagine how much trouble the business might have been in if he’d been able to get away with blackmailing me, and left his damaging videos on You Tube?
After Mr B had told me his story he explained that he was very important, and if I kept my mouth shut about the incident, he would be very grateful and would owe me a huge favour. Well, I could’ve called in that favour – I could have asked him to use that direct line to make sure that I got any outstanding payments that are still owing to me.
But, I don’t want favours from idiots who try to blackmail me. And I should be able to get paid what I’m owed without using some exclusive direct line number. And people like Mr B should realise that you should never try to blackmail a blogger who has principles.
Have you ever encountered people like this big, arrogant assh..e in your business, or at work? How did you deal with them?
The story doesn’t end there. After I’d finished writing this post, I decided it would be wise to check that Mr B’s staff had not put the videos back on You Tube. One of them had in fact made a video specially for me, shot straight from his boss’s office. If you really want to see if you can find it here: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=4101132
It isn’t really worth watching, but basically he accuses me of trying to lose him his job, and brags about how I failed. And he’s still going to go on making videos.
It’s a bit sad that Mr B didn’t have the sense to educate his staff on the danger their videos had put his business in, not to mention the livelyhoods of many other franchisees. And also that he allowed them to make another stupid video in his office. But, of course he can do what he wants – he still has that direct line number.
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