Here's July's contribution, it's on page 78 and 79
If you treasure it, you'll measure it
Strategy. Every business has
one, or at least some version of one. Ask them what it’s based on and their answers
can be quite surprising; often there is no substantial research behind their thinking
that guides the company forward.
Research really does need to
underpin your strategic decision. Unfortunately too often companies don’t
invest in research, firstly because they think it comes with a high price tag
and secondly, it’s daunting to put yourself on the line. No one likes criticism
and you would rather fumble along blindly than having to face some hard
realities.
On my first point, yes,
research could be regarded as quite an investment, but what is the actual cost
and loss when you embark on the wrong route and invest in the wrong media and
marketing campaigns to support this “strategy”? We’ve all seen it; companies
spend millions on advertising campaigns. We’ve all been drawn into those
poignant, heart-wrenching Loerie award winning adverts, promising you the sun,
moon and stars. Facebook, Twitter, radio ads and even in the morning paper, all
making the same promise and statement that you must have the latest product; so
you decide to call the call centre. You get through to an automated voice. You
make your selection and hold. Elevator music. More holding. At last you get put
through to a human being, who can’t wait to put you through to someone else.
More pan flute music. When you do get through to the right department, you can
barely remember why you called in the first place, there’s a clash of
personalities between you and Miss Unenthusiastic on the other side of the line,
she really couldn’t be bothered about you or the sale, it’s just a job at the
end of the day, right? And you really
couldn’t be bothered to waste any more time. Sale lost. The ton of money that
the company invested in to get you to call the call centre, lost.
In the long run that company
is going to see a decline in customer service and revenue (if they haven’t
already), management is going to regard this as a crisis and approach the
communication team to fix it with a press release, or puff piece; not thinking for
one minute that it might be a low morale issue that needs to be addressed. By this stage there are bound to be bigger
reputational issues to deal with. How ‘expensive’ does that initial research
seem now?
A press release is not going
to solve your business problems.
When working on a strategy
for your business, you need to look at all the different components of the
business, if you are going to focus too much on one area; ultimately another
area is going to be neglected. Let’s compare it to becoming fit. When you
embark on your fitness regime, you can’t just focus on one area of your body,
you need to make sure that you train your whole body. We’ve all seen “the
clouds” at the local gym who just focus on building arm muscles…
You need to get ‘reputation
fit.’ Unfortunately you can’t rest on your laurels without putting in the
work. You can’t go out there and run a
marathon without putting in the miles of training. You won’t get very far.
So how do you get reputation
fit? You need a base line to start off with. It’s the same when you embark on
achieving a specific fitness goal, be it running a half a marathon or cycling
your first big race. The first step is determining what exactly it is what you
need to achieve (your vision), then identifying what it is that you need to do
to get there. This is when you will download the latest fitness app and make
sure you have the gear before you start measuring your progress.
You switch on your app and set
off on your first training run. After the first kilometre, it feels like your
lungs are bursting out of your rib cage and your legs feel like jelly. You
think to yourself, ‘how on earth am I going to do another 20 of these?!’ But
you make sure that you stop your watch and you start tracking yourself. Next
time you’ll go a bit further and a bit faster. You see what you need to improve
yourself, perhaps more core exercises, better shoes, maybe get a training
partner. Then before you know it, you’re casually finishing ten kilometres as
part of your training regime and then the half marathon is do-able. In the same
way, you need to keep track of your reputation. Yes, the first study is not
easy (nor was that first kilometre), but as you progress and see the changes
and growth within your organisation, you really get to grips with what it will
take to elevate your reputation to the next level. The research will become
less daunting and will guide you to understand where you need to focus to help
you to run a balanced, well trained enterprise.
Wouldn’t
you agree? If you treasure it, you’ll measure it.
Keen to continue the
reputation conversation? Join Regine on Twitter @ReputationIsKey or Facebook www.facebook.com/yourreputationmatters. Visit www.reputationmatters.co.za for more information.
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