Welcome to Discuss HR, the HR blog written by Human Resources UK.
Today we welcome another of our new writers, who you may recognise from a previous guest post. Judith Germain looks at the importance and power of a good reputation. (Ed Scrivener)
How to have the right reputation for your business
The two most precious things this side of the grave are our reputation and our life. But it is to be lamented that the most contemptible whisper may deprive us of the one, and the weakest weapon of the other - Charles Caleb Colton
It’s been over 100 years since Colton said this and it remains as true today as it was then. Small businesses are particularly sensitive to how their reputation and credibility are perceived. It is therefore imperative that businesses consider the reputation that they are building and how they demonstrate their credibility to others. This consideration must include all their activities, what they do online and offline must be consistent at all times.
Brand perception and delivery is becoming all important for the survival of the business. Small businesses have a habit of believing that this isn’t an issue for them, not realising that it can determine whether their business stands out from the crowd. Standing out from the crowd in a positive way makes it more likely that the company will secure business from the competition. Brand reputation is becoming the ultimate decision maker and to ignore this trend will put your business and earning capacity in peril.
Building the right reputation for your business takes time and there are a number of stages that the business needs to take to ensure that their business strategy is effective. People buy from people (not businesses) and need to trust the person that they are buying from, especially if they are buying high ticket value services. How the business owner and his employees interact with potential advocates and clients is now more important than ever. When you have the right reputation you gain referrals and advocacy.
A referral is when a contact passes your details on to another, this usually happens after a request. Advocacy is where your contact is evangelical about your service or yourself. They are able to prequalify and ‘sell’ your services to potential clients for you. When businesses have chosen to pursue a pull marketing strategy (especially on a social network) they need to ‘pass through’ the following stages to ensure that they are building the right reputation to gain advocacy:
- Auditing current position
- Deciding your niche and how you want to dominate it
- Learning how to articulate your business proposition
- Establishing your reputation and credibility as an expert
- Developing and maintaining your reputation
Reputation and credibility is an integral part of your business strategy
Your business strategy needs to incorporate your personal brand, and how you intend to leverage it. Remembering that with pull marketing, people will buy from those that they trust, it is therefore important to create a brand that is trustworthy, and consistent no matter where it is encountered. A business mentor will ensure that the implementation of your business strategy is achieved and you build a consistent and winning reputation. The execution of your network strategy will be in line with your corporate identity and establishes you as an expert in your niche.
Firstly you should audit your current position considering amongst other things:
- What reputation do you currently have?
- Would others consider you an expert?
- How credible are you?
- What track record do you have?
- Are you and your business trusted?
People increasingly buy from those that they know, like and trust, especially where the purchase is service rather than product related. Being credible and having a good reputational (personal) brand is essential, enabling the buyer’s decision making process to choose you over another business each and every time.
Whilst reputation and credibility are separate concepts and can be established and maintained separately they are integral to each other. To be credible as a business often means that you need to be an expert in your field. People and businesses prefer experts over generalists; this is after all, the decade of specialism.
In deciding which niche to operate in you should be able to answer the following questions:
- Is the niche big enough to support you?
- Is the niche clearly defined?
- Where is your expertise in this area?
- Do you currently have credibility in this area?
- How do you want to demonstrate your expertise in this area?
- What activities will you be doing to enable you to stand out from the crowd?
To be credible therefore requires clarity on your business proposition (what your business does). Questions that you should be able to answer include the following:
- What makes you different from other consultants?
- How do you articulate what you do in a way that is easily understood by others?
- What are you known for?
- Are you easily remembered?
Credibility needs to be demonstrated and is based on your track record and competency. One of the ways to demonstrate credibility to those that have not seen your work is by articulating effectively how you achieve success for your clients in story form, free from jargon. Good stories are enjoyable to listen to and can enable subtle messaging about your expertise and ability to potential buyers or advocates. Another way is to provide support and advice to others; thus enabling snippets of your expertise to be demonstrated making it easier for others to advocate you.
I believe that reputation is based on the character of the person (or business) and the intent of the individual (or business). Reputation is therefore personal; it is how you are perceived by others. If others perceive your intention as good this can enhance your standing with others.
Reputation is built on what you say and what you demonstrate and it is important to build awareness and visibility amongst your target audience and potential advocates. It is essential that you are consistent with what you say and do, especially on the internet where everything that is recorded there is of a permanent nature. It is easy to forget that social networking sites are places where reputation and credibility is established, maintained and developed, not just places to ‘hang out with friends’. Many business owners take a relaxed and whimsical approach to how they network on places like Facebook, which can be quite detrimental to them. Others join business networks and then remain ‘invisible’ to the membership, ignoring the opportunity to enhance their reputation and find advocates for their service.
Both reputation and credibility can be established and enhanced by writing on subjects which demonstrate your expertise. Where you publish your thoughts will be dependent on your objectives. Generally speaking your potential clients need to see that you are an established expert in your field and that you have a strong and positive brand. Social proofing plays an important part in the decision making of some. They need to see that others have bought your service and believe that you are the right person to solve the issues that they face. This is where advocacy plays an important part of your marketing. How you interact with others and how you make us feel when they do interact with you will have a significant bearing on advocacy and whether someone will buy your services.
It is generally much more shameful to lose a good reputation than never to have acquired it – Pliny the Elder
Once you have established yourself as an expert and are providing a consistent message in terms of your proposition and ability to deliver, it is important to maintain it. It is extremely hard to recover your reputation once it is lost.
The benefits of having the right reputation
One of the most essential benefits, especially in times of economic downturns, is that having a good reputation reduces operating costs. When you are trusted, speed in decision making is increased and cost decreases as you need less risk protection. For example, long legalistic contracts become less necessary and collaboration on projects become easier – often without the need for Non Disclosure Agreements.
An expensive but necessary component in business is having the resources to be able to market yourself effectively. Most traditional marketing techniques are ‘push’ marketing ones. For example, the consultant advertises his services to his target audience, unsure of whether they are looking for his expertise. Having a good reputation can mean that ‘pull’ marketing techniques are used. An example is where the potential client ‘pulls’ your services when he needs it – without specific advertisement. He might decide to use your service based on a referral from an advocate of yours. This means advertising spend has not been made to secure this client.
When a door opens not to your knock, consider your reputation – Arabian proverb
You are more likely to find that the sales cycle is reduced because you have a good reputation. It also enables others to believe that there is less of a risk working with you. This is equally true if you are an interim consultant working for short periods within large companies. A good reputation and a credible persona will help ensure that you are chosen for the role over a more obscure consultant.
Distinguishing yourself from others by being a credible expert with the right reputation makes it easier to be advocated. Advocacy is when an individual is almost evangelical about someone or their services. Advocates understand your business proposition inside out and can sell your services to potential clients with very little intervention from yourself. This reduces your marketing costs as well as your sales cycle.
The current economic climate shows now signs of improving in the short term, and the increased competition for reduced customer spend has meant that establishing and promoting your competitive advantage has never been so crucial. A good, strong and credible reputation is the one thing which can provide you with the superior and sustainable leverage you need to survive the credit crunch, whilst others around you fall by the wayside, and it will not cost you a penny!
*****
Discuss HR is the HR blog written by members of Human Resources UK, the 10,000 member strong LinkedIn group dedicated to the HR professionals in the UK. Discuss HR is published twice weekly and looks to take an insightful, informative and sometimes irreverent view on the world of HR – all with the purpose of generating a discussion.
*****
If you would like to be a guest writer for Discuss HR, you can find more information here. Our next guest writer week is the week commencing 29th April.
No comments:
Post a Comment