Since 2007, Larry Weltman has served as a customer service representative at AccessEasyFunds Limited, a Canadian company providing pre-closing advances to real estate agents on commissions that they have earned. The company assists many of Canada’s best real estate agents and is committed to making the lives of real estate agents easier through its services. Weltman has helped grow AccessEasyFunds Limited from its beginnings and looks forward to seeing how the company will develop in the future.
As a Customer Service Representative, Larry Weltman interacts with many clients and gets an up-close-and-personal look at many of the details involved in the company’s day-to-day transactions and business. He is also a staunch advocate for the importance of customer service, as he mentions in this conversation below.
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Why do you think it’s so important for today’s entrepreneurs to commit to strong customer service?
Strong customer service creates a relationship between the company and the client. When you establish a business as an entrepreneur, you’re entering the marketplace and you want to build your reputation and brand and ensure that you can compete.
One of the best ways to accomplish both those goals is to ensure that your company provides exemplary customer service. When a client is happy with their interactions with your company, they’re so much more likely to spread the word–among friends, family, and other potential customers. As the leader of a company, it’s up to you to provide that outstanding customer service and to train others within your company to do the same. From what I’ve seen throughout my career, I can say with confidence that good customer service is a fundamental part of making a company successful.
What would you consider other essential qualities for an entrepreneur?
I think there are a number of different qualities, besides being dedicated to customer service. A great entrepreneur should lead by empowering his or her team and letting them make decisions, creating a good environment, being results-oriented, being a great listener and communicator (this goes along with providing excellent customer service), having a clear vision and strategy for the company and for his or her team, possessing key technical skills to help move the company forward, and being a strong decision maker. I think those are, generally speaking, some of the traits that are essential for anyone who’s hoping to make it as an entrepreneur.
What are some underestimated skills that you think contribute to an entrepreneur’s ability to succeed?
The abilities to innovate and adapt. I think those are paramount too. Having a strong vision can help with innovation, but so much creativity and innovation comes from one’s ability to take risks–controlled risks–and learn from mistakes. Establishing practices around new projects and risks in order to collect data about those projects, so that you have some idea, for example, of the ways in which a new project might not succeed ahead of time, is a great way to help yourself innovate and take the risks that are necessary to grow and develop over time. Having discussions about your successes and your failures can help you fine-tune your approach in the long-run and it provides valuable metrics regarding the state of your company. For an entrepreneur who’s managing a team, you also have to be mindful about allowing your employees enough space to be creative: you should set goals that allow people to stretch their abilities.
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