When we consider our core values in our personal life we can often feel that our business values need to be different…more professional or perhaps meet the expectations of our clients, peers or staff needs.
But in reality, like an apple core…our values need to have depth and have the ability to be sustainable…ie the seeds for re-planting new apples trees.
Whilst to some degree we need to meet clients, peers or staff needs…if we deep dive into what really matters; we will see that our business values need to match our personal values or least be complimentary.
For example if operating your business from ‘integrity’ is a key value for you personally; yet you have taken on selling a product that doesn’t deliver on what it says this does pose as a moral issue for you. t
At one of our Small Business Group meetings we talked about the term ‘it’s nothing personal…just business’. If people buy through trust …and trust can only be built through personal relationships, how can it just be business?
I believe that we deal with real people and real situations…it needs to be personal for them to connect with us and deal with us long-term”. It’s not just business.
With this point in mind let us consider this…
How much emphasis has your own core values had on your “Code of Ethics for your business? And…How has this impacted on the success of your team and business?
It is one thing to say that you are willing to HELP someone…but if you are putting them down by telling them “They are wrong” or insulting the decisions they have made because you want them to use your product/service instead…then what does this say about you and your business’ core values?
Surprisingly, this is a widely used sales manipulation technique. I am not a fan of these type of approaches as they are a win/lose approach.
Please do not get tempted to do the same…there is no room in sales to criticise a customer so you can sell them what your offering.
I would like to hope for and believe in a business community that comes back to raw thinking and organic focused growth in business. What I mean by this is… as business people we treat each other and our customers with the highest level of respect and work to meeting customers’ needs regardless of our very own wants…or even needs. To me, this is integrity selling not manipulation selling. And it is driven by good core values.
Stepping on others to get to the top, OR tricking someone into buying/using your product/service isn’t success in my opinion. That kind of stuff is easy to do and brings returns no doubt…are they sustainable long term results?
I am not convinced they are.
I have had the privilege to have this very conversation with a person I consider to operate out of high integrity and has made a conscious choice to not be ‘hard-driven to succeed’ but more ‘people-driven’ to succeed. What a fantastic concept!
Why are core values important to your business?
They set a tone and foundation for how you will engage with your clients, employees, suppliers and business community. They are a summary of how you want to conduct business and when your team engages in upholding them, the result will be success.
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Kind Regards,
Zita