In my line of work, I get to interact with hundreds of employees, mostly at small to medium-sized businesses in small and medium-sized towns.

The people with whom I’ve interacted range from entry-level employees to CEOs and business owners.

In over nearly 20 years of interactions, observations, and conversations with employees and business leaders, I’ve recognized patterns of behaviors that repeatedly lead to success or trouble for the business, especially in small to medium-sized towns.

When I say success, I am referring to not just a financially healthy business, but one that also has high employee retention rates, high employee satisfaction, and a better business reputation. Logically, those things will naturally lead to a more financially successful business.

I’ll share some of my observations.

Businesses should communicate an honest and legitimate “why” behind everything they do to employees and customers to the best of their ability.

When a business owner can connect what they do to their mission, vision, and core values, they seem to have a stronger and more diverse group of committed customers. When a business cannot explain why they make a change or other big decision and the customers or employees are left to assume or feel like a decision was made from greed, any existing positive perceptions of the business are chipped away.

Small businesses in small towns should stay out of politics.

When business owners start making politically charged statements directly connected to their businesses, or they get the business involved with controversial topics, they immediately have some people vowing to never visit their place of business again. Right or wrong, right or left, it is not wise to use your business to push political agendas. Those who disagree with me will say a business will gain stronger support from those who agree with them, but is that ever worth alienating others, when it could all be avoided, especially in a smaller town where there is a limited population to support businesses in the first place?

When a business leader comes across as arrogant and self-important, or when the entire business culture is arrogant, it turns customers and prospective employees away from the business.

As a business owner, you do not have to be friends with your entire staff or every customer outside of work, but you should certainly treat them with respect. Perhaps in a large town that has the money to support a Rodeo Drive level of shopping, businesses can get away with arrogance, but, in a small town, there is just not enough population to drive people away simply because they don’t meet the business’ preferred status of customer. And employees do not tend to be loyal to an arrogant business leader. They operate with one foot out the door and perhaps are passively causing more harm to the business than the good they bring every day while at work.

Businesses that take care of their employees with more than a fair paycheck seem to have an easier time recruiting new employees and have less turnover.

When business leaders meet their team members where they are, care about them, learn about their goals, and help remove their hurdles, and respect and trust them, they create very loyal employees who will continually go above the expectations.

A business owner or his or her employees should never gossip about customers or competitors to other customers. It is a bad look and will lead customers to seek other sources for their needs.

A business can be doing well financially but they can let that blind them and miss opportunities for greater growth and success.

Repeatedly, the most successful, well-respected businesses with which I interact are the ones that are honest and stick to their values, stay out of politics, have leadership and employees who treat every customer and potential customer with the same respect, care deeply for their employees, and stay out of gossip.

Customers have choices about with whom they do business.

They will speak with their dollars and their words to friends and family.

In any town, it is important for business owners to remember those things, but especially in a small town, where resources and potential customers are limited and people greatly influence spending decisions of those who trust them.