Excellence, simply put, is the quality of being outstanding. You experience it every time you visit places like Neiman Marcus, Disney World or a Ritz Carlton. Actually, we’ve come to expect excellence from these companies and we’ve let “good enough” slide by with smaller, less-known companies. However, with all the technological advances we’ve had over the past 15 years, excellence is no longer an option for smaller businesses. It’s now demanded of them.
Without high online ratings, a smaller business can suffer immensely. According to the 2017 Local Consumer Review Survey , 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations and 49% of consumers need at least a four-star rating before they choose to use a business. Your brand reputation matters more than ever in today’s economy and if excellence is not part of your brand, you may not be in business as long as you were hoping for.
Here are 3 ways to make excellence a part of your brand:
1. Go Beyond the Extra Mile. Go the Second Mile. This was Dan Cathy’s philosophy and helped him build the multi-billion dollar fast food chain, Chic-Fil-A. Cathy’s staff provides a unique customer service experience by opening doors for guests, checking on patrons at their tables, offering refills, picking up their trays and providing service with attentiveness and a genuine smile. It’s no wonder that this company only has a 5% turnover rate, compared to 35% at most other fast food chains. They have made excellence part of their brand by training staff with excellent customer service skills. What are ways that you can deliver Second Mile Service in your company?
2. Stop Cutting Corners. We live in a ‘get-it-done-asap-with-as-little-as-possible’ kind of world, and we tend to cut corners in order to give ourselves extra time and money where we deem necessary. An example of this would be when companies cut back on leadership development training in order to maintain profitability. Fast Company Magazine once wrote about an organization that overshot a company-wide change by 89 weeks. 39 of those weeks were due to mistrust in leadership. Cutting corners gives you cutting corner results and will not help promote excellence for your brand.
3. Develop 100%ers. I remember helping my niece audition for a school musical and getting frustrated that she was under-performing while practicing with me. She assured me that she would do better in the audition when it mattered. I told her, “If you can’t give 100% when it doesn’t matter; you won’t give 100% when it does.” Every one of us was created to do, be and achieve our very best, but you can’t get there unless you’re willing to give it all… even in the small tasks. High performing companies know how to develop what I call 100%ers. People who do everything with a high level of excellence attached to it. Someone once said, every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it, so autograph your work with excellence.
Be the type of company that people can rely on because they know that excellence is part of your brand.
Comment below on how you can apply Second Mile Service to your business.
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If you can’t give 100% when it doesn’t matter; you won’t give 100% when it does.
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Betsy Allen-Manning
Leadership Speaker | Best Selling Author | DISC Human Behavior Expert
www.BetsyAllenManning.com
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