You may have the best product in the world, for example a car that runs on water or a fully operational teleport machine; if your reputation is poor, you can forget about making it big. In today’s business climate (and quite probably in every one before it), reputation is what makes or breaks a business, a company or even a corporation; at least unless you are a bank, then you can do whatever you want without any consequences. So, how does one business-owner ensure the reputability of their company?
Honor Your Deals
This is the first and the foremost thing to keep in mind when the reputation of your company is in question. It does not matter what the deal was, even if was a deal with the people who bring you water for the water-cooler; you have to honor it. What this means is that you should never make deals that you cannot honor. If you tell someone that you will ship a product to them within a week, make sure that you can do it 100%. There is nothing that wrecks your reputation as quickly as a deal that was not honored.
Treat Your Employees Well
Your employees are the most important part of your company and if you do not treat them right, this will not only lead to a drop in productivity and job satisfaction but it will also start affecting your reputation. We have all heard of large, successful companies whose reputation has been tarnished by talks of how poorly they treat their employees. A large number of people will stop doing business with you because of this and it will also be extremely difficult to find the best people in their field to work for and with you.
Always Deliver Your Products and Services in Full
People do business with you and pay you because you supply them with a product or a service of some kind. There is no room for any corner-cutting and less-than-perfect delivery in modern business and in a company that looks to be reputable. For instance, if you manufacture something that is fragile and if you need to ship it overseas, ensure the proper quality industrial packaging that will keep the product safe. If you provide a service, deliver it in full. No one wants a service that is subpar and no one needs a product that has been damaged or delivered too late.
Know how to Deal with Crises
Crises will happen; mistakes will be made and problems will present themselves. This is the way the world works and there is very little that you can do to be 100% positive that everything will go as planned. In such situations, you need to know how to behave and how to control the damage. If the fault was on your end, own up to it, apologize. People will understand. If you know that there is a problem with a product that you make, recall it, call your customers and tell them about this. For example, no one thinks any less of Toyota for their latest recalls. If anything else, people have more respect for them.
