DON'T DO IT ALONE!

by Rick White, President 180BIZ                                                             (Estimated Read Time 3 minutes)

 Guess what? You can't do it alone when it comes to reputation. You can't build, create, or influence a reputation by yourself. It doesn't work. You need to involve your team. Your reputation is either built or diminished based on the interactions your clients have with each person on your team. Now, we've talked about the fact that reputation is a reflection of the character that you run your shop by. The reality is if you don't share your values with your team, they're going to run your business on their values. That’s what typically happens, and you end up with an inconsistent experience.

Step 1: Identify your values.

The best way to overcome the inconsistencies is to identify your values. Let your team know what your values are. You want them to run your business with the same values that you do. This is the first step in building consistent experiences for your clients.

Step 2: Share your values.

Once you let your team know your values, the second step is to share them. What does that mean? Use stories where your values were exemplified, where someone went above and beyond in demonstrating those values. You must walk that talk. Make sure that your values are so deeply ingrained in you that you are an example. Remember the saying,  “I can't hear what you're saying over the noise your actions are creating.” People listen to your words, but your actions will mean more to them.

Step 3: Live your values.

And the third step is you want people that have the same values that you do. You want to find people that not know them, not understand them, but you want to find people who live them. You want to find people whose values align with yours. So, you have a choice here. Most shops don't ever talk about their values. You may take care of your client’s day-to-day, but when someone misdiagnoses a car or you put a part on that doesn't fix it, that’s when values show up the most.

Do you charge them for it and then say it was something else? Or do you own up to it? If you say you're honest, if you say it's the customer first, you must show that all the time. And you must make it safe for your team to do the same thing. You want people working with you who see their job as being part of something bigger where they make a difference. And they do it by sharing your values and living your values.

"It's important to me that people know I care."

There's nothing more important to me than to rest my head on my pillow and know that I did my best, to know that I did right by myself, to know that I was there for people, to know that I cared.

Even if you're a one-man operation right now, know what your values are. Define those values. What are you going to live by? You should have three to five core values for your shop. Mine were quality, service, and profit, At 180BIZ it's all about growth, abundance, and service. So you've just got to know what your values are and then find people that share those values. They share the same values with you. You can't create an amazing reputation, you can't influence an amazing reputation until everyone on your team understands the values. They must know what those values look like in action and share them with you every single day.

Everyone on your team must live your values, too.

If you're interested in hearing about the webinar on Reputation where I'm going to bring everything I've talked about and a bunch more into it, then please just click on the Pocket Business Genius link.

Also, if you know of a shop, or even yourself, who wants to join my amazing Shop Owners’ Round Table that gathers on the second Thursday of each month at 7 PM Eastern time. It's free and it allows you to sit down with other like-minded shop owners that want to grow. You can ask questions that are going to help you with your business. You must be a shop owner. I need you to understand that can't be an advisor, can't be a manager. We want to make it a safe place for shop owners.

God bless. Stay safe, have some fun, and go make some money.

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