“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Peter Drucker, legendary management consultant, educator, and author
There’s always a culture in a business, and you either build it, or it builds itself. The point is though, that it’s our culture which really differentiates us from our competition – our customers don’t buy what we do, but how we do it. In other words – the experience customers get when dealing with you or a member of your team.
An alignment of values
That’s why it’s absolutely key that your employees are aligned with the core values you want to be recognised for in the market. Think of it as your individual “recipe” – the combination of values which you demonstrate consistently to your customers which enables them to define why they love doing business with you.
A personal connection
So much of the customer experience is about a person having a personal connection with the values you communicate externally. Those values build trust and set a precedent of how you do business. Think of them as your promise to the market. The processes in your business then ensure that your customer gets what they expect. In other words, process follows promise!
Consistency is key
Conversely, if your team aren’t clear on your “recipe”, chances are that your customers receive a different experience from your team members, making it either confusing or difficult to articulate what makes you different. Consistency is the key. Without consistently demonstrated core values to deliver the how and consistently applied processes to deliver the what, how can our customers make an informed choice about why they should choose us?
So it begs the question – What impact are you making on your customers as a result of the culture you have or haven’t created in your business?
To find out more about standing out in the marketplace, subscribe and listen to episode 5 of our Black Country Business Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/black-country-business-podcast/id1525196827
