Do you think that having a corporate culture is only for the big company’s?
No.
Having a corporate culture is critical if you want to Get new customers, Keep customers returning and Make even more money.
In this article, you will understand what corporate culture means to an entrepreneur, why it is important and how to create one. You will feel confident in the actions you take as you interact with your Customers, Workers, the Community, the Environment, and the Shareholders.
Therefore, what is corporate culture? Corporate culture is the beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviours that you as an entrepreneur have and do as you interact with your Customers, Workers, the Community, the Environment, and the Shareholders. It is how you treat them all. Your company’s culture answers these questions.
When you interact with customers, what is their experience at every touch point?
Do your employees enjoy working at the company?
Does the community feel valued?
Are you a good steward of the environment?
Are the shareholders getting a good return on their investment?
This brings us to the next question of why is it important to have a corporate culture?
When customers are shopping for a service or a product, they will look at the reviews to see what other customers are saying about your company. They look at how you treat their property among other things.
In my business of exterior property cleaning, I get customers asking me if we will respect their flowers and landscaping ornaments on their property. We have then built a culture of being considerate of their flowers and overall landscaping. This puts the customers at ease, and they pay glowing tribute to our exceptional customer service. When the customer feels that you value their property, they call you again and again. They tell their friends and relatives, and you make more money.
When you have a culture of treating your employees right, they enjoy coming to work everyday. With low employee turnover you have stability and you also build a team of experienced workers. The cost saving benefits are tremendous.
A good corporate culture is like a fertile land, it keeps producing bumper harvest quarter after quarter.
How do you then build a good culture for your company?
The best place to start is to look at your values, both personal and the businesses. Ask yourself what do I want to be known for? Do you want to be known for being reliable? High quality service, or Environmental care. Create then a protocol of how you behave and do it consistently.
Secondly, look at the negative reviews of you competitors, what are customers complaining about, can you fill those gaps? Ok then build a culture to address them. What are the positives that the customers are saying about your competitors, copy those too and incorporate them into your interactions?
Thirdly, look at the accidental good things that your customers noticed you doing, determine to deliberately incorporate them into your interactions with them. Listen to your customers too, they will always tell you what they value most. Build those into your culture.
When customers know how you do things and what you stand for, they will trust you and when they trust you, they will buy from you .They will tell their friends and relatives and you will not only get new customers, but you will keep existing customers coming back and make even more money with your company’s culture.
Achieve Success-Do it on Purpose
Patrick Juma
