Reputation Mon, Nov 14, 2016
Reputations are important, both personally and professionally. First impressions are crucial, the promises you make matter and the expectations people have of you are important. For as true as that is individually, it's equally as true for a brand or business.
We know that it's crucial for our product to be fantastic, because that is the basis of what we do. But reputation goes far beyond the products we sell because reputation is often built and spread by the good word of the customers we serve.
Our reputation lies in the customer service calls and the no-hassle exchanges, in paying our bills on time and avoiding gimmicky marketing, in our honest, straight-forward approach with new job candidates and the relationships we have with our partners and manufacturers abroad. For those reasons, the customer who gets a belt that slips is much more likely to give us a second (or third) chance because of the reputation we've built outside of our products.
Seth Godin gives 3 important reminders for reputation:
- Your reputation has as much impact on your life as what you actually do.
- Early assumptions about you are sticky and are difficult to change.
- The single best way to maintain your reputation is to do things you're proud of. Gaming goes only so far.
The best thing about reputation is that since ours is already great, all we have to do is keep doing what's gotten us to this point: be who we are, which is knowledgeable and kind, authentic and helpful.
"Be your reputation, early and often, and you're more likely to have a reputation you're glad to own."