Brand Ideal

I was reading an article on Facebook's upcoming public stock offering. Mark Zuckerberg is quoted as having said "We don't build services to make money; we make money to build better services.... These days, I think more and more people want to use services from companies that believe in something beyond simply maximizing profits." That's a good message to remind yourself about once in a while.

Then, I got an email about the release of a new business book called "Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World's Greatest Companies" by Jim Stengel. I'm also now enrolled in Amanda Aitken's "Girls Guide to Web Design" Jetsetters' class (now you really know why I haven't been blogging lately!). One of the first exercises that Amanda has you do is fill out a three-page questionnaire on how you want your website to look, but it's really so much more than that. Her questions are getting at the heart of what you want your company (and, in some ways, yourself) to look like. 

All of these sources and exercises are getting at the same thing, something that Mr. Stengel has dubbed "brand ideal." What is it that your company, and you, stand for? What are you trying to accomplish (and if your only answer is "making money," try again!)? We all know that any business enterprise is trying to make money, but, these days, it really does have to be about so much more. 

Some describe it as "finding one's passion in life." It's funny, I got rejected by a date way back when because, at the time, I didn't really have a passion I was pursuing. Oh, sure, I enjoyed my job very much, and I enjoyed going to movies, eating out with friends, and so on, but I didn't have a particular activity I was engaged in with the level of passion this guy had with playing the piano. He described how he'd rush home after work in order to be able to play, learn new songs, and spend hours at it. I remember thinking at the time that I couldn't imagine pouring over something with such focus and dedication. Fast forward, and here I am, often spending hours each night working on some aspect of Many Creative Gifts -- the crocheting (and knitting :-) itself, the patterns, the website, the blog, and on and on. And, most importantly, loving every minute of it. You have to -- it's a lot of hard work to achieve that level of focus and dedication, to hone your craft to the point where it's not just a hobby, but frankly is worth sharing with others and, if you so choose, turning it into a potential business.

So, do some hard thinking on this for yourself. We only get 24 hours a day, at least 8 of which I hope you are spending sleeping, so how are you spending your time? Are you spending it on things you enjoy doing? I know that there are things that we all have to do that we don't like doing, but putting all of that aside, what is your passion? And, what are you going to do about it?! If you have a passion and just want to do it for yourself, then that's awesome because there is always the danger of trying to monetize your passion and, instead, losing your love of the activity. But, if you want to turn your passion into a business enterprise, there are a lot of ways to go about doing so, and one of the ways I hope to help you through this blog is by curating some of the resources I've come across that I think have been helpful to me in pursuing my passion. And, Steve, by any chance if you are reading this, I only have one thing to say -- thank you!

Trust

and how to lose it very quickly!  "Trust" is the latest buzz word being touted in business literature.  I've recently experienced loss of it as a consumer, so it got me thinking about it as a small business owner.  As consumers, we expect businesses to meet our needs without much effort on our parts.  We place an order, and we expect to receive it as described seamlessly. These days, with all the social media and emphasis on making personal connections, even with businesses, we're expecting even more from business owners and feeling downright hurt if our expectations aren't met.  That's even more pressure on the business owner than before!

For example, I had signed up for an online course, which had as part of the package a free one-month trial of an additional service.  The offer was that, after the free trial, my account then would be charged an additional fee each month.  I tried to access the site on which the additional service was being offered, but something technologically wasn't working.  After reporting the problem, I received a personal email from the owner explaining the inaccessibility problem and the solution that would be implemented in the future, and assuring me that my automatic account charge had been cancelled.  I had known exactly the date by which I would need to cancel in order to avoid the charge, but I trusted that the matter had been addressed.  As I'm sure you've figured out by now, I was charged.

Of course, I shot off an email expressing my frustration because I was mad at the owner and myself for not going to the site and ensuring that the account really was cancelled.  But, then, I tried to think through my personal reactions as a consumer and how that might affect how a small business owner should react in such a situation.  The response I received was an example of what I think the current business rhetoric is -- give a detailed explanation of what went wrong.  Yeah, that's great, but frankly as a consumer, I'm not sure I really care what went wrong -- I want to know what you, Ms. Business Owner, are going to do to make things right.  Now, in this particular case, such information was included in the response, but it came later in the email.  I think that information needs to be the first thing that you need to convey to your unhappy customer.

Also, don't read too much into what the consumer is telling you and give answers not warranted or required -- in the response, the owner said "I assure you there was nothing sneaky going on here."  Nowhere in my message did I suggest that I thought that anything had been done deliberately or with malicious intent.  In fact, I had clearly stated that I thought the mistake that the owner (and I) had made was to rely on the automated service of a third party vendor.  Mmmm, why are you (business owner) bringing this up and planting it in my head?!

So, the takeaway lesson here? -- 1) immediately address the steps you have taken or are going to take to ensure a solution to the customer's complaint, 2) if necessary, give some explanation of what went wrong, but don't go on so much that it starts sounding like an excuse, and 3) throw in an attractive treat that will encourage the customer to shake off this bad episode and give you a chance again in the future (pay attention, sometimes the customer will indicate what will make him or her happy and keep them coming back).