Your Values & Your Company Values

Have you thought about the values of your company?  No, not how much you company is worth – that is the company valuation.  I’m talking about the values of your company.  The values your portray to the public and the ones that exist inside your company.

Whether we like it or not, our values, our beliefs systems are on display every single day shining through our behavior.  No one is perfect and we all have bad days but in general, what are the values and behavior that you have every day.

I don’t want you to project anything.  Don’t pretend to be anything that you’re not.  But we should all have goals and ideals that we strive for.  We don’t always make it on a day to day or event to event happening, we all make mistakes and sometimes we fail badly.  Sometimes you hold your temper when an employee just released a $2000 course for free and sometime you lose it.

But the key is to think strategically.  Who are you and what do you represent?  How do you want to be perceived in the marketplace?  This is all part of your strategic marketing plan or at least it should be.

As a business owner we should decide who we are ahead of time and then make sure that everything: our product, our systems and our people live up to our ideals.

When I lived in California, it was funny how people made fun of Hobby Lobby or Chick-fil-A.  For years, I called it Chick-a-Fil, because I didn’t know any better.  I get a little dyslexic on the letters sometimes.  These companies were known for their values.

But yet, Hugh Hefner and the Playboy mansion had values too.  Larry Flynt had values, not very good ones, but he had values.  It’s more than weird that no one makes fun of the two men that really have pathetic values especially when it comes to women.  They had values, horrible values in most peoples opinions, but that is a value.

Mercedes has values.  They value excellence.  I don’t remember that last time Mercedes turned out an inferior product before it was market ready.  Can you remember the last time Mercedes had a recall?  Yes, their brand is part marketing but it is also part of its existence.  If you product doesn’t live up to your values, you are going to have an issue in the market place.

If you are a pet sitter and you charge premium prices, you need to follow through with premium services.  If that means washing the dog bed and cleaning up the cat hairballs, so be it.  If you are the pet sitter that charges for an hour and then leaves after you throw the food down, your reputation won’t keep you in business very long.

Now, am I using very simple, extreme examples?  Yes, to make a point.

We need to think about who we want to be in the market place.  Yes, a lot of this comes from the target market that we decide to serve but it also comes from us.

If you want to sell expensive high-end cashmere sweaters at Neiman Marcus, you aren’t going to make them with cheap yarn.  You also aren’t going to see a lot of cashmere sweaters at Wal-mart, unless you want to sell them under cost.  That’s a good way to go out of business quickly.  Sell a product for less than it costs to make.

Am I simply stating common sense?  Yes.  But unfortunately, values are one thing most business owners over look.  They don’t think about it up front and they don’t plan it out in their business plan.

Values are one way to make sure that everything in your company stays in line.

Your vision and mission statement are also part of this planning package that you need to put front & center and make the foundation of your business.

Before you get caught up in the sales & marketing and rushing your product to the market, think about how your product or service fits your company and long term market position.

I realize when you are dead flat broke or the company is on the verge of bankruptcy, thinking strategically flies out the window.  There are times when you just need to get the product out and get the money in the door.

But the reality is, if you become known as the Walmart guy, it makes it very hard to become the Mercedes guy later on.  Neither one is better than the other, it is a question on which one suits you, your purpose and your vision.

For more help on this, come join me in my “Design Your life, Design Your Biz” Challenge.

Until next time,

Peace, Love & Prosperity,

Deborah