Management

 

How to Build a Good Business Image

 

Your business has an image – a reputation in the eyes of the buying public.  That image may be good or bad, and it may be affecting your ability to succeed.  There are many ways to build and maintain a favourable image: here are a few broad guidelines:

 

Service 

No matter what you sell, service is critical to building long-term relationships with customers  (i.e. customer loyalty).   Service consists of all the intangibles – courtesy, free delivery, good parking, accepting returns, free repairs and alterations, gift wrapping, returning phone calls the same day, ‘your BigMac within 3 minutes or it’s free’,  in short, doing whatever it takes to increase customer satisfaction during the whole experience of doing business with you – what has been called the ‘WOW factor’      

 

Quality of product and service

To beat your competitors and stay in business, you must be obsessed with supplying the very best of whatever you sell.   Poor quality is costly in terms of customer loyalty, bottom-line results and inevitably business survival. 

 

Location   

Your business location is vital for its ability to attract buyers and make sales, especially for retailers and many service firms.  Check whether your location is appropriate to the kind of buyers you want to attract.  Don’t ignore the fact that the quality of any location can change over time. 

 

Responsiveness to customer wants

Being able to rapidly and accurately respond to customer wants requires that you connect (i.e. communicate) with both existing and potential customers to find out what they want of you.  Only then can you continue to respond quickly and accurately to their requirements.  Unless you do this (and do it regularly) you run the risk of becoming irrelevant to buyers – and every irrelevant business will die from lack of sales.

 

Prices  

Although the motivation to buy is complex and somewhat flexible, buyers generally want ‘good value’ for every dollar they spend.  It follows that, for the majority of buyers, excessively high prices can easily create a negative impression of the business. Setting prices is a key element in good marketing and requires a thorough understanding of your market and your competitors.

 

Employees   

The moment you hire an employee you have delegated part of your ability to impress your customers to someone else.  You must set the standards of competence and conduct you want, and lead by example so that your ‘front-line’ troops are willing and able to help build the image you want to achieve.  

 

Your business image may not be what you think it is.  It is what buyers think of you!!  Why not take steps to find out what they think of you?