When you are starting a business, one of the most important things you will need to develop is a ‘reputation’. Reputation comes in many forms – it can be a reputation for being easy to work with, a reputation for being on-time for appointments, a reputation for meeting deadlines, a reputation for being a good employer, and so on.
In the initial stages, as you reach out for clients to build your business, referrals will be critical, and these referrals will be offered more freely if you cultivate a positive reputation. Examples of this are the timeliness in which you respond to emails and quotation requests, the way you handle job applications or the efficiency in paying supplier accounts. All these can impact what other people think of you and your business. These things all count toward creating a positive reputation, which is vital for start-ups.
Whether they are correct or not, we all form opinions of people and companies based on our interactions with them, no matter how limited that contact is. Emails not answered, phone calls not returned and staff that are not flexible in responding to customer requests can all contribute to a company developing a poor reputation.
It is easy to fall into the trap of not doing the small things when you are busy establishing your business especially if you have minimal staff. These lesser details may not be important to you, but they can be significant for someone else; for example, consider a job applicant, eager for a position, who sits and waits for weeks because you forget to send a quick email that can be created via a simple template.
Forging a good reputation is deceptively easy. It is a matter of taking a few minutes to do the decent thing by people – after all, as a customer, you would expect the same thing in return. In a world of hungry competition, there is always another company willing to fill the breach if your business falls down.
So here are 10 simple, common-sense tips to help build a good reputation:
1) Set up templates to respond quickly and easily to standard emails, such as common customer enquiries, job application responses, invoices, quotations and so on
2) Ensure there is an efficient telephone message system set up in your office
3) Set a target for responding to emails and phone messages – for example, within 4 hours – and adhere to it. Even a simple acknowledgement will suffice in this time
4) Put aside a minimum of one hour a day devoted purely to administration
5) Treat rejection with dignity and grace – the customer may come back to you eventually if you handle this well
6) Treat people with politeness and respect – this generally yields a better outcome than being demanding
7) Be on time for appointments, especially if your client comes from a culture that expects punctuality
8) If you need to cancel an appointment, or are running late, call ahead as a courtesy
9) Pay your suppliers within the agreed terms – this will help if you are really short on cash flow one month
10) Create a culture of genuine customer assistance, not just order-taking, and be flexible to customer needs
By Ian Mason
