What's in a Name?

The value of a good business reputation.
According to Fortune, Apple is the world’s most admired brand. What gives this brand and others like it such stellar reputations? And, more importantly, how can your company achieve such accolades? Well, Fortune bases its rankings on eight key business attributes:

• Innovation
• People management
• Use of corporate assets
• Social responsibility
• Quality of management
• Financial soundness
• Long-term investment
• Quality of products/services

Overall, I believe that these eight key business attributes can fit into three major categories that should be of the highest importance to your business: quality, customer satisfaction and fiscal responsibility.

Quality
Customers want the most innovative and high-quality products and services for their cash. Period. So give the people what they want. Don’t spend all of your time and money talking about it and advertising it, the companies with the best reputations do it.

Customer Satisfaction
We’ve all had the experience of finding a brand (whether it be clothing, cars, electronics…) that we love but dread the purchasing experience. Even if you have a high quality product or service, people should want to buy from you. Make the decision easy for your clients. Manage your employees well and make sure that customers are always satisfied. Listen! Don’t try and tell people what they want, listen to them and give them what they want, without question or exception.

Fiscal Responsibility
So your customers are satisfied with you and the quality of your company’s product/service. Now you need to make them feel confident in your future. Three of Fortune’s key attributes revolved around the company’s assets. You don’t have to be the biggest player in the industry, but people want to know that your company is being managed effectively and that you’re practicing smart business. People also want to know that you are contributing what you can to your community.

So if you want to be the Rolls Royce, Google or Apple of your industry, keep these business elements in mind. Who knows? Maybe one day you’ll be topping Fortune’s lists.

We love to hear from you - let us know what you've been doing to better your reputation. Or, if you've had struggles getting past something and would like help finding a way. Posting comments gives others a way to learn from your examples and allows you to get invaluable feedback from colleagues.