By: Manny Ortega
The word VALUE can mean so many things depending on the way it is used. You can put a value on an object and you can get value for your money. But have you ever taken the time to think about what things matter the most to you in your business, your career, your family and your life? Sitting down to determine what your values are may be one of the most meaningful tools you will use in your business and will reaffirm why you started your business in the first place.
For Ortega’s Appliance Service, our journey began as a part of the rebranding process. By surveying our staff, our customers and ourselves, we were able to pull together some common traits that encompass the back bone of our company. We have been a family owned business since 1975 so our core values were forged with deep rooted family values.
Once you have determined your values, you will notice that even though they were not written down, you have been consistently living those core values as they are part of what makes you who you are, they are ingrained in your being. By sharing your values with your staff, it gives them a new perspective of the company as well as you as a person. It provides a guideline that allows them to do the right thing for your customers. You will likely have staff whose values do not align with your values and they will transition away from your company. As hard as this may be, it will leave you in a position to find the right person who aligns with your values and helps to move your company forward.
I would like to use my son as an example of how deep our core DNA runs. My son worked for Ortega’s when he was growing up. When he graduated from college, he left to pursue an engineering career. He soon realized in his first job he was not satisfied. We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to visit another service business. The principles who run the company explained how they use their values to hire employees and run the company of over 400. They know that not everyone they hire will match the values of the company and it may be evident early on. My son left that day realizing the reason he was not happy in the company was the values of the company he worked for and his did not align. He made a tough decision to leave that job. He used his values when looking for a new employer and found a group of individuals with values that are similar to his at his current job and he is much happier.
Our values are posted for all to see. We use our values as part of the quarterly job evaluations for the staff to continue the alignment. Our values serve as a reminder of why we are in the service business and the importance of all of our staff who we entrust to take care of our customers who keep Ortega’s Appliance Service in business.
Ortega’s Appliance core values:
INTEGRITY- We show up when we say we do; we make it easy for the employees to always do the right thing so they will never go wrong.
EXPERTISE- We are focused on training and professionalism; we strive for excellence through knowledge.
LIKEABLE and LOVING- We run the business with ‘love’ and loyalty-we are focused on creating a culture that is welcoming, and treat our employees and customers like family. As a result, our techs have stayed with us for a very long time and our customers know our techs by name.
RELIABILITY and LONGEVITY- We’ve been in business for more than 40 years; for decades, our customers have come to rely on excellent service and the expertise to fix it right the first time; we foster reliability & longevity among our employees leading to high job satisfaction and consistent customer 
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