The reputation of a business leader or a private entrepreneur is an intangible but very valuable boon. After all, the better the reputation, the more opportunities for making money open up for the entrepreneur. In this article, I propose to consider ways to build a good reputation for a businessman and his company.
What is reputation?
Reputation is a fixed definite opinion about a person, a group of people, a company. The value of reputation is the higher, the easier it is to obtain information about the person or organization of interest to us. The Internet, customer reviews on independent resources, social networks - all this makes any business almost transparent (except for information constituting a commercial secret). Before buying a particular product, people read reviews, on which they base their attitude towards it. Before entering into partnership and other commercial relations with an entrepreneur, they study his activities, communicate with counterparties, clients, and former employees. Unseemly acts committed by a businessman earlier will certainly become public, it's only a matter of time. And, the less trust people have in the official advertising of companies, the more value the reputation acquires, influencing the profit and growth of the business.
Ways to build a good reputation as an entrepreneur or company:
I think this point does not require comment.
Business ethics means punctuality, fulfillment of assumed obligations, honesty and decency.
I'm sure you are familiar with businessmen who do not comply with agreements, are late or do not show up for scheduled meetings, do not pay accounts receivable to suppliers and bank loans for months. But at the same time, they buy themselves new cars and relax in foreign resorts, posting relevant photos on social media pages. It becomes clear that these people do not care at all about their own reputation.
Social responsibility should extend both to “internal customers” - shareholders and company personnel, and to external ones - suppliers, partners, buyers. Everyone makes mistakes, but how they are corrected affects a company's reputation.
Businessmen do not always manage to maintain the high quality of the goods they sell. Many are focused on the economy class, selling consumer goods. The main thing is honesty towards customers in advertising such products and setting prices for them.
By contacting consumers of goods or partners, each employee personifies and represents their organization. From what the personality of this employee is and how exactly he does it, an idea of the reputation of the entire company is formed.
The formation of a high-quality reputation is influenced by business growth indicators: the use of innovative technologies, increased profitability, good credit history and bank support, company scaling, etc.
Unfortunately, most businessmen prefer to create a positive image of the company rather than build a good reputation, or they do not see the difference between these concepts. Image is a kind of artificial image created in order to increase the company's awareness, attractiveness, and increase trust. And reputation is the system of values of a businessman, the sequence of his actions, on the basis of which the image is formed.
A good reputation is a valuable intangible asset, which is the task of any entrepreneur who wants to work actively in the market for a long time to protect and increase it. Only when businessmen cease to substitute image for reputation can they truly enjoy the trust and support of the consumers for whom they work.
Elena Trigub.
