I can mention the name of a company right in this space here ___________ and a lot of people’s name, email and phone number right here _____________ and right here _____________ and on and on and on.

It’s pretty scary if you REALLY think about it huh?

The reason I say that, is because all those companies, managers and CEO’s out there (from the people that mop your floors to the people that answer the phone) people are talking about you (believe it or not). Give them a reason to talk badly about you, your name, email and phone number could end up right ________________ with a nice little story sent out to hundreds, thousands and possibly even millions of people AROUND THE WORLD.

Don’t think so? It’s called, “Word of Mouth Advertising” and it’s already happening (whether you like it or not).

So how do you prevent “the bad” from spreading?

1 – Treat employees, temps or consultants with respect. To some, it’s a new concept (I know), but want your name and email right here _____________ from someone you didn’t “respect?”

I once met a writer/blogger who has about 10,000 people who signed up on his mailing list and worked for the same company I used to work for (while he was building his business). I don’t know about you, but 10,000 people is a lot of people to reach and how many of those 10,000 people do you think know 10,000 OTHER people? The funny thing about this, he was working an entry-level job at this company and not too happy about his place of employment or how he was treated either (if they only knew).

2 – If you have to “let someone go” do it with class. I was working as an HR Assistant, when there was a “mass layoff” in a company and these managers that addressed this particular situation were so horribly insincere that it made me question how the word “human” ever got to be in “Human Resources.”

Believe it or not, even though I knew some close friends were going to be “laid off” I’m still friendly with them (even though I worked in their Human Resources Department at that time). Why? Because those who know me, know what I stand for.

3 – Let people speak their mind. When I worked in an Accounts Payable Department for a major corporation, I once asked someone for a fax machine in a meeting so we can get invoices faxed directly to us (since most of the people we talked to wanted to know why their invoices weren’t paid and nobody ever got their fax). The cost? How about $39? My manager’s response? I was laughed at and told, “Yeah that won’t happen.” But the funnier thing was, I continued to get calls from their “vendors” saying, “It seems like no one ever knows where the faxes are.”

In closing, I want people to understand something. People are talking about you everywhere, and if your name, email, and phone number end up right here _____________ for all the world to see, what would people say?

Still don’t believe how simple and powerful this is?

Let me tell you about my friend __________ who used to work at ____________ you can email his manager _____________ if you like to tell him what you think. You see __________ not too long ago, called up his temp agency ___________ to tell him that his “assignment ended.” You would think ____________ would have the common decency to look him in the face and tell it to him in person. Not so. His manager waited until after he left ___________ (working as a ___________ in the department of _____________for close to a year and a half, rarely missing a day). Despite everyone that loved him at _____________, and how unprofessional management handled this, I wanted to tell you that _____________.

Now you get it?

For your business AND personal life, I hope we have something good to say about you. If not, now you know why things aren’t as good as they could be.