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Corporate values and personal values are not the same.
Your business value proposition, or value prop, is a concise statement of the benefits that a company is delivering to customers who buy its products or services. It serves as a declaration of intent, both inside the company and in the marketplace. Almost all companies have value props and aligning your business with your values is a strategic necessity. The importance of values in business Incorporating values into business practices is crucial in today’s economy. A business having a strong value prop and observing its values can create a strong brand identity, ensure customer loyalty, and attract and retain motivated employees. Identifying your core values Identifying and understanding our values, passion, and purpose takes self-discovery. It requires us to examine our beliefs and motivations to gain clarity on what truly matters to us. And that’s only the first step. The journey to aligning your business with your values begins with a clear understanding of those values. Typical values include integrity, innovation, sustainability, and community service. It’s vital to ensure that these values are more than words; they must represent genuine beliefs and commitments. What can cause us, in a corporate environment, to align our beliefs and ethics with corporate ethics? How do we ensure that the corporate version of values is dominant? Integrating values into business strategy Integrating values into the business strategy requires a deliberate approach where every business decision should follow these ethics. This integration can be evident in different forms, such as commitment to fair labor practices and implementing environmentally friendly operations. Building a values-based culture Creating a company culture that symbolizes your values is essential. This involves developing a work environment where employees feel connected to the values and are motivated to act in ways that uphold them. Communicating your values Communication plays a critical role in aligning your business with your values. This involves stating your values in your printed and advertised value prop and then demonstrating them through your actions. The challenges of upholding your values when leading Lading a business with this approach is not without its challenges. There may be times when adhering to your values could impact things such as short-term profitability or employee negative feedback. Leaders must be prepared to make difficult decisions that uphold their values
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A good company reputation doesn’t happen by accident and it’s a valuable commodity. A good reputation can promote referrals. Let’s say you heard from half a dozen people about how great the food is at a local Italian restaurant. Even if you never ate there, you’d probably recommend it to someone looking for an Italian restaurant.
Why? It’s got a good reputation. That said, creating that reputation requires sustained work overtime. You must deliver on multiple fronts again and again. What are some specific things you can do to build that good company reputation? Offer Excellent Customer Service Excellent customer service is something that many companies claim to offer and most fail to deliver. This failure comes at a cost. Most people consider quality customer service as simple respect. Never forget that the customer is the one spending money with your business. Listen when they give you feedback and respond accordingly. If you can, fix things when they go wrong. If you can’t, immediately find someone who can. After all, we live in a time when customers can spend 10 minutes just trying to navigate a phone menu before getting put on hold. A little respect and some good faith efforts can leave you looking like a rock star. Know When You Should Say No Sooner or later, almost every successful business faces a dilemma. The company gets offered work that everyone knows it shouldn’t take on. Sometimes, the business just can’t muster the resources to do the job well. If you’re already working at close to capacity, taking on more work is a recipe for failure. Even if you somehow finish the job, it won’t prove to be the best quality. You end up with an unhappy customer who will almost certainly complain. And when someone is dissatisfied, they are more likely to tell people and post on social media than when they are pleased. Other times, the work just isn’t the right fit for the business. Maybe the client works in an area that the business doesn’t understand well, or there could be a difference in values and practices. Saying no isn’t natural for most businesses. It certainly looks bad from a financial perspective. Yet, you risk doing substantial reputation damage when you take on work you know you shouldn’t. Watch Out for Online Reputation Killers If you’re in business today, you cannot escape the internet and social media. At a minimum, you’re running a website and a couple of social media profiles. Starting with your website, make sure your hosting service guarantees 99 percent uptime. A website that goes down all the time alienates your customers and damages your search engine rank. It also makes your business look unprofessional. There are other, more damaging online threats to your company's reputation. One of those is bad reviews. You can’t stop people from posting bad reviews, but you can comment on them. Take advantage of that option and explain the steps you took to resolve the issue. Always be apologetic. Most people won’t hold the review against you if you respond accordingly. Some people will take things one step further and get into online defamation. That happens when someone specifically says false things about you or your company. Examples: Bad review: “They overcooked my steak and the potatoes were cold. Also, my waiter seemed more interested in his phone than doing his job.” Online defamation: “The staff at this restaurant sits at the tables playing online games and the owners are sitting somewhere stuffing their mouths with bonbons while we eat their old, stale food.” Obviously, you must deny these allegations, but depending on the severity of the comment, it may also provide grounds for legal action on your part. Develop Quality Content Putting out quality content is another way of cementing a good company reputation. What is quality content? Quality content must hit three essential points:
Maybe even more importantly, it’s all those things for your intended audience. An article about new technology being used in virtual reality might prove interesting, but it’s not useful or relevant if you run a bakery. On the flip side, someone working in robotic prosthetics probably shouldn’t offer advice on making cheesecake. Assuming your content does hit all those points and it’s for the right audience, you get some real benefits. It demonstrates your mastery of the topic. Customers and peers will start trusting your opinion. This increases the odds they’ll think of you when someone asks for a recommendation. Quality content can draw in customers from unexpected sources: Let’s say that Larry reads my article about good company reputation because someone shared it on social media. He passes the link along to Jane, who currently received a negative review online and didn’t know what to do. She needs someone to maintain and market on her social media platforms. Ta-da… maybe she hires me. Stranger things happen every day. Establishing a good company reputation isn’t a fluke or an overnight process. You must work at it over time. You must deliver excellent customer service. Businesses that fail at customer service damage their own reputations and cost themselves money. It means saying no when work comes your way that you can’t do well. If you lack the resources or it’s a bad fit for any reason, recommend a company you think can do it well. You’ll end up looking good for not wasting someone’s time and money. Having great partnerships with complementary services can go a long way. Don’t passively accept online reputation killers like downtime or bad reviews. They’ll just ruin your reputation if you let them. Produce solid content. Relevant, interesting, useful content proves your knowledge. That encourages referrals and can lead to unexpected opportunities. The workplace in 2021 requires employers to rethink priorities and development of necessary skill sets. Businesses should embrace a dynamic approach to reskilling talent as new skills become relevant and necessary.
Twenty-twenty was a stressful year for many of us. With the arrival of 2021, everyone has seen the need and desire for empathy, compassion, and connection. Now is the time to project optimism and lead with compassion and approach our customers with empathy.
Your customers become your greatest assets and ambassadors when they see you genuinely care about them. Compassionate businesses grow a passionate and loyal community of partners. Here are some key positions for your business to introduce:
Remember, passionate customers are loyal customers. Loyal customers are consistent customers. And consistent customers get us through inconsistent times. Contests and sweepstakes are great ways of generating interest and expanding your reach to a target audience. If you want to increase site traffic, reward customers, and/or gain some new leads to add to your marketing efforts, then you might want to consider having a contest or sweepstakes giveaway.
Many people use the terms “contests” and “sweepstakes” as if they were the same. Technically, however, sweepstakes are prize giveaways where the winners are chosen by luck. Contests, on the other hand, draw a winner based on some merit. The person must enter something such as the funniest picture with logo, most moving essay, tastiest recipe, or whatever will be chosen as the winner. Sweepstakes or contests can promote your product and company, expand your current customer base, and gather contact information of potential customers for future marketing. The premise is simple - offer a prize that will entice your preferred target audience to give you their contact information and allow you to communicate with them. I say preferred target audience because sweepstakes and contests also attract people that may not be your target. I recently entered a sweepstakes for a $100 gas card. I was willing to give my name and email address for the chance to win. The rules stated, “The sweepstakes is open to residents of the United States and Canada, age 18 and over” and “Only entries received via the official web entry form will be included in the drawings.” This sweepstakes followed good form with the rules easy to find and read. The sweepstakes were clearly aimed to increase new visits to an attraction by people some distance away and encourage them to stay overnight. However, I am not a target customer. I already visit the attraction regularly, and I will not be purchasing overnight accommodations. It was by accident that I found the sweepstakes when searching for something else. But this is still a success because it engaged me and delivered the message about the weekend and overnight accommodations available. Designing your own contest or sweepstake When you choose to conduct a sweepstakes or contest you will have many choices to make and will need to follow some basic rules.
Rules In the United States, every state establishes its own set of rules for contests and sweepstakes. The main law you need to be aware of when you run a contest or sweepstakes in any U.S. state is the “no purchase necessary law.” This law states that you cannot require users to make a purchase or provide other forms of consideration to enter a sweepstakes where winners are randomly drawn. States have their own rules about what sort of contests or sweeps are legal. This is where the “void where prohibited” clause comes in. The statement gives the company blanket protection against running an illegal contest, without having to research the law in each state. Since social media makes it easier to run contests nationwide, and even internationally, make sure that you are stating exactly where the person must live to enter. Additionally, there are Federal Trade Commission rules about collecting information from children. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) limits and restricts information that may be gathered and how it may be used. “If you operate a commercial Web site or an online service directed to children under 13 that collects personal information from children or if you operate a general audience Web site and have actual knowledge that you are collecting personal information from children, you must comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.” So, plan your contests carefully. Check out other contests and their rules, check your state’s rules, and get some professional advice if you have any questions or concerns. The concept of being a one-stop shop is one that has long been considered by companies of all sizes. There are always pros and cons to any change, however, there are different ways one can set about being all-inclusive. A lot of this depends upon your business.
Keep in mind that you do not want to stray too far from your relevant industry. Example: I would never consider adding a service such as auto detailing to my marketing services – it makes no sense! Although I am sure many of us have seen examples of that in our world. But you do not want to be known as the “jack of all trades, master of none.” There are times when it makes sense. As I mentioned in a recent article, “Are You an Owner or Entrepreneur?” there are two ways you can grow your small business:
Benefits of these “one-stop” opportunities An introduction of new revenue streams to make more money from the same customers. More comprehensive offerings to differentiate you from the competitors that may not be able to offer the same extensive range of products and services. The convenience factor which allows customers or clients to have everything done in-house rather than having to deal with numerous suppliers. Consumers appreciate ease. One-stop shops breed greater customer loyalty. When clients and customers subscribe to a broader range of products and services, it’s harder for them to move their business elsewhere. Expanding business activities to incorporate a more comprehensive range of goods and services does require efficient coordination, and it does take care to ensure company resources aren’t spread too thinly. For a smaller, more flexible business, however, becoming a one-stop shop that provides customized “packages” for its customers and clients can really help differentiate it from the competition. That’s exactly right, what better way to use your acting and talent than to market your business! I do it all the time. And I am going to share some of the top tips I use to be entertaining and grow my business at the same time.
1. Tell Stories – We all use stories, both personal and professional, to illustrate a point. Remember, facts can be boring but using stories can make you interesting. Your clients and prospects want to learn more about you – What better way to earn their trust and loyalty. 2. Something to Talk About – You want people to talk about you, all positive of course. The best way to get that happening is to differentiate yourself from your competitors. Start talking about how different and unique you are and soon everyone else will be talking too. The best possible position to be in is to have your clients bragging about being your client. Be a celebrity. Everyone will want to be part of your celebrity world. 3. Engage your Clients – If they’re engaged, they are enjoying themselves. When your clients feel like part of your business, it makes it very difficult for a competitor to steal them away. 4. Host Events and Parties – Have contests, surveys, private sales, loyalty rewards, customer outings, networking events, family fun events … any event that involves your clients and prospects. People want to have fun and it will be fun for you, too. Make sure you share the news and take pictures for social media too. 5. Calendar Marketing – Here’s where you become as big a part of your clients’ lives as they are of yours. Share events on a calendar. Make their events as much a part of your life as yours are. Why not? Showing up at events will introduce you to a whole new set of prospects AND it will instill loyalty in your clients. Plus, you can share their events on your social media and even publish an online calendar. Another fun way to use calendar marketing is to promote some obscure holidays or annual celebration days and find those that are relevant to your clients. 6. New Client Experiences – After you have closed the sale, do not sit back and relax. Now is the time to “wow” them…again! Make them realize that they made the correct decision in choosing you. You can: • Send a handwritten “Thank You” card • Blog about them or post it on Social Media (with their approval) • Send them an unexpected present (and not a pen or anything with your name on it) • Make them another offer they can’t refuse • Make a customized “Thank You” video • Donate to a charity in their name Put some thought into creative ideas and watch the repeat business and referrals just float your way. 7. Be unpredictable – Pique their curiosity. If you keep them wondering what’s next, I guarantee they’ll keep coming back to see what else you are up to. Recently in a client meeting, I was asked by one of the sales employees what they needed to know to help them be more successful next year.
It’s a great question and one that we should be asking ourselves on a regular basis, not just about next year but about next quarter and next month. Here’s what I told the salesperson and the rest of the team: 1. If you can’t raise your level of sales effectiveness by at least 15%, you’ll wind up losing ground to the competition. There is not one company out there that is not demanding more of every employee with each passing year. This means every competitor you have is going to be looking to become more efficient in how they sell. Yes, some will stumble, but many will be successful. To you, it means one thing. Doing the same thing next year is simply not going to be good enough. You must find ways to streamline your sales process and market in new ways to be competitive. 2. The pool of prospects next year is going to grow. There will be more prospects than ever, and the good news is more of them will actually buy. The Internet continues to open up new areas and social media processes, and this means prospects can come from more places. Yes, it’s good news, but it also means competitors can come from more places. In the end, it means you must be able to adapt how you sell to be more flexible than ever. 3. Prospects are going to engage you later than ever in the process. The Internet is an amazing tool in how it allows prospects to review how you might be able to assist them with what you offer. Thanks to the capabilities of search engines, prospects can do more, learn more and ultimately draw more conclusions without ever directly communicating with you. 4. Time will become even more important for you, your prospects and your customers. Because prospects can engage with you later in the sales cycle, after they have done more research, they will be looking to make their decision faster regarding the time you have with them. If you sell in the B2B market, this same thing holds true for the customers your customers sell to. The entire sales process is going to continue to shrink in regard to the level of time it takes to complete the sale. 5. Customer loyalty will continue to decrease. Why should a customer stay loyal to you? There is so much information on the Internet and the number of competitors is so robust, it only makes sense for even the most loyal customer to look around. If you’ve been reading between the lines with each one of the points I’ve listed above, you’ll notice something. They are all interconnected. At the core is the ever-growing level of information available to the prospects and customers. Just as the level of information is growing, so is the number of competitors you have. In the end, the big take away is this: If you think you can be successful doing the exact same thing you did this year, you’re kidding yourself. You might be successful for a while, but ultimately your business will erode, and chances are you won’t notice it until too much has eroded away. So, take to heart what you can learn from these points I have shared so that you will be more successful next year than this year! |
Boost Your BusinessMaria NovakI have over 35 years' experience in Marketing Small Businesses. Categories
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