What do you want your clients to say about your business?
In this episode I talk about how important your reputation is for your small business and how I believe you can be really intentional about your reputation and what you want to be known for.
I’ll take you through my ‘Fly on the Wall’ exercise where we drill down into what you really want people to say or not to say about your business and why.
I will take you through the different ways that you can track and measure your reputation and what people think about your business and then we’ll finish by an exercise that will help you to really nail those recommendations and referrals by becoming the go-to brand for your area of expertise.
We're also going to be thinking about how to become that go-to person so that people recommend you and people refer you, and people know if they need your product or service, you're the person or the brand that they need to come in contact with or to get in touch with.
Here are the highlights from this episode:
(01:29) Checking in with you first
(03:30) Whats behind a brand and reputation and why its important
(08:06) Invitation to be intentional about building your reputation.
(10:16) The fly on the wall exercise
(19:01) Tracking the evolution of your brand
(19:42) Tracking returning customers
(21:16) Becoming the go to brand or person for what you do.
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I'm Lucy Rennie, and welcome to my Future Proof your Business Podcast.
The podcast that provides you with everything you need to know to build solid foundations and ultimately Future Proof your business.
I'm on a mission to share my love for small business with you and help you to enjoy the extraordinary ripple effect that comes through harnessing the power of people and relationships.
And I want to make sure that you can reap the benefits of being a business and a brand that people know, like and trust.
I'm a huge champion for small business and a massive believer in the fact that people do business with people.
This podcast is here to inspire you, encourage you and support you on this roller coaster ride that is building, growing and Future Proofing your business.
And this is Episode Five, where I'm going to be talking to you about the idea of being intentional about what you want to be known for. So we're going to be looking at what is a brand, what is reputation and why it's important to be intentional about it.And then we're going to be thinking about how to become that go-to person, so that people recommend you and people refer you and people know if they need your product or service, you're the person or the brand that they need to come in contact with or to get in touch with.
Before we do that, I just wanted to touch base really and see where you're at. I know it's been an eventful few weeks, with everything that's happened since the passing of Her Majesty the Queen. I'm recording this and it's a few days after the state funeral that took place on Monday. And I know that I think it's been for everybody really, a mix of emotions of highs or lows and all sorts of different feelings. And I just wanted to really recognise that. Make sure you are okay. I know for me it was a kind of an up and down sensation all over the weekend really. And then with Monday, all coming to a head. And it was a mixture of feeling sad, but also incredibly proud to be British and just watching the whole of the different processions and the whole events unfold with, you know, absolute precision. From someone who's who's had a history of you know, I used to organise big events in my corporate life, I'm always intrigued to see what's going on behind the scenes and how things happen and take place and all the people that must be working, you know, every hour to make sure that it all goes to plan. And I think it was to the minute precision wasn't it? Especially the wonderful guys who were carrying the queen. I mean, it was just amazing. So, so yeah, I think it's been a funny few weeks. And as the world as I'm talking to you now is just starting to kind of pick up again, and maybe get back to normal, whatever that is. Because I don't think there is any real sense of normality at the moment, which is obviously why I'm here and talking to you about future-proofing your business.
And I know that it's you know, it's an unsettling time. And I think these are the kinds of conversations and what I'm going to be talking to you about over the these next few weeks or months are really going to help you to solidify your brand your business and make sure that you are that go-to brand that people are becoming loyal, and that you are building a solid and sustainable and successful business.
So yeah, so today, I want to talk to you really about what's behind a brand and reputation and why it's really important. So I thought I’d start with really just explaining what is a brand? You know, we kind of hear these terms, don't we? Being bounced about? And actually what is a brand? And what do we mean by brand? So in my opinion, so for me, your brand is really the essence of what you do. And it's what enables you to distinguish your business from another business. And it's how you present your business to the world. It's what makes your business unique and enables it to stand out from the crowd. And ultimately, what we want to do is be able to attract the right kind of people, to your brand, to your business, the right kind of opportunities. And, you know, I'm a big believer in the fact that we should love what we're doing and we should find joy. So I'm going to throw in that I think it should attract the right kind of adventures as well. And we want it to resonate with people who get what we're doing and what we're saying.We want to attract those kinds of people who like what we're doing who have the same values, the same outlook on life or we want to attract the people that you know, where we can add value. So I believe really it's super important as you're building your business and even if you're, you know many years in just to take some time out to review this and to really sort of check in on this and get clear about what it is that makes your brand special. You know what's important, and why your offer is the best that it could be and for your audience. And I think it's really important at this time to be really clear on what that is. Because if you're not clear on it, then you can't expect anybody else to be, whether that's your customers, your team, your suppliers, your key partners. So getting really clear on what your brand is, is going to be really important. And we touched on that last week when we talked about your vision and your mission. So what the bigger picture is, what the impact is that you want to be having on the world. And then the mission in terms of well, how do you do that? How do you help? How do you help people? How do you add value? And what's the essence of that? How, what's the way that you do that?
And so once we've kind of understood why it's important to get really clear on our brand, we need to think about reputation. And reputation is a funny one. Because a lot of people talk about the fact that we can't really control our reputation. And I want to differ a little bit, I want to kind of challenge that and say we can't necessarily control what our reputation is, but we can be super intentional about it. So basically, your reputation is what other people think or say about you and your brand behind your back or when you're not in the room. So when people are talking about, you know, your business, when people are talking about your products or services and the way that you deliver, you know, you're talking about your business, that's ultimately your reputation. And that can be good or bad, it can be up or down, it can be incredibly exciting. But it could also be a bit more depending on what people are saying or depending on what you're doing. And, of course, you know, we can't make people think a certain way. We can't get them to say what we want them to say about our business and about ourselves and our brands. But I do think it's really important to be intentional about it. And I do think that actually your reputation, especially in today's world, is incredibly important. And it actually has the power to potentially make or break your business.
There's a famous quote by Warren Buffett that I love, which talks about the fact that it takes 20 years to build a reputation, and five minutes to be in it.
And if you think about that, you'll do things differently. And he's right, you know, it takes a long time to build up that reputation, to build your brand, to build awareness for what you do. And to, you know, to do it in the right way so that people are, you know, talking about you in a positive way to get you out there to get you known and recognised. But the slightest thing that you could say or do, or the slightest crisis, or whatever it might be can have the potential to break it in seconds, almost.
So yeah, what I'd like to do today, what I'd like to do is invite you to be intentional about building your reputation. And intentional in the sense that I want you to think about building a reputation or growing and nurturing a reputation that really does reflect your brand and your values and the relative value that you deliver. A reputation that reflects the experience that you can create for your customers and key stakeholders. And there's no right or wrong with this, you know, depending on what your business is, depending on what your products and services do, and how you position them in the market will, you know, lead to what your reputation is. So whether it's high end and expensive and high quality and luxurious, or there actually it's the bottom end of the market, and it's cheap and cheerful, it does the job. And you know, you get what it says on the tin. That's ultimately, that's equally sorry, just as valid. So really, it's about being really intentional about building a reputation that works to reinforce everything you do, and drives the right people to you. That ultimately helps to build that goodwill in trust, which is what I talk about all the time. So wherever you are, and whatever you're doing, whichever customers you're serving, it's all about building that goodwill and trust and managing those expectations. So the best way to start thinking about reputation is again to start like always with the end in mind.
I think it's really important to kind of understand what that goal is. What would we really want people to say about us, you know, if we had some time to think about it, what would you like your reputation to be? So, in other words, what do you want people to say about you and your brand And how would you like to be perceived within your market or your industry.
So an exercise that I would encourage you to do, and it's one that I do frequently with my clients as we work through the futureproof framework.
And it's called the fly on the wall exercise. And it can really help you to identify your core values and what you stand for, which is what we looked at in the last episode. And it can really help you to reinforce that. But what I want you to do is try and imagine that you are a fly on the wall. And then picture yourself in a pub, an airport lounge, or ultimately, wherever your ideal clients hang out, wherever they are, whether it's at the Chamber of Commerce, whether it's in the local cafe, wherever it might be, I want you to imagine that you’re a fly on the wall, and you can see all your ideal clients sitting around talking about you and your business. And you can hear what they're saying. And what I want you to do is just shut your eyes for a few minutes and just kind of tap into that inner voice and just kind of reflect on, you know, if you could really hear people talking about your business, and talking about your brand and your products and services. What is it that you'd like them to say? And these are some of the questions that I'd like you to think about, and make some notes on. Okay, so either make some notes in your head, and then jot them down afterwards, or as you're working through this, have a bit of a mind map and scramble things down, depending on how you'd like to work.
So the first question is, I'd like you to think about what would you like people to say about you and your business? And why. Okay, so in a dream world, if they could say anything that you wanted them to say? What would it be? So it might be that you want them to say something about the excellent quality of products. And you might want them to say that, you know, I love working with Lucy, because she really cares about me and my business. And oh, she's got my back. And she really gets under the skin of what I'm doing. And she you know, she knows exactly what I need to be doing and helps me to kind of get focused. Or maybe it's, you know, it was such an excellent and amazing experience, I can't wait to do it, again, highly recommend. Or maybe it's just simply, you know what, it was great, it was great value for money, it did what it said on the tin, there was no fluff, there was no nonsense, and this is what it is and that's what I wanted. So the first thing is really think about what it is that you want people to say, and why you want them to say it.
And then what I want you to think about is, when you look back at the answers of those questions, think about what it is about the things that you've thought about that makes you happy.
And why it is that you want them to say these specific things. And so it's thinking about, why is that important, that maybe it's about quality, or how products or high quality products. Or it's about being under the skin or knowing maybe the expertise and really understanding a bit more about what's important to you. And this is where we can link it back into your vision and values that we looked about last week, because it really helps you to tap into well, why have I said that? Why does that come up for me? Why is it that thing that I want them to say and not something different? And it helps us to really get under the skin of our own business?
Then the third thing I want you to think about is the opposite? If you were listening in, what would you not want them to say? What would be the worst thing ever? The thing that would kind of make you turn in your grave that would just you know, be the end of the world? If they were saying it? What would that be? And again, I want you to think about why that's important and why it matters. And so yeah, just sort of notice what you've chosen, what are the things that have come up for you? And sort of unpack it a little bit and see how that fits in your business. So, you know, for me it would be about how she doesn't know what she's talking about. Or maybe it's about not doing what she said she was going to do. Or maybe it's about, yeah, she didn't really care. She just took my money and ran. So those are the things for me, that would be my worst nightmare, because they ultimately go against everything that I I believe in that I that I'm here for.
So if you know, if I was that fly on the wall? Well, and I heard people say that about me, I think it would be devastating for me. And so it's a funny one, but actually by being really clear on what we want people to say we can start to help them to, to say that. And so in other words, if we want people to talk about how products and services, you know such high quality or want them to feel that we care or we've got their back, and then the only way really that we're going to get them to say those things is actually if we believe those things and we deliver on those things.
So in other words, once you've defined that, once you've kind of set out what it is that you want to be known for and your brand is recognised for that, then you need to walk the talk and I think sometimes this can sound quite serious and a bit sort of scary or even just sometimes a bit obvious in the sense that, you know, I suppose we all think, well, of course, we're going to do what we say we do. But actually, it makes sense, really, if we're building a business, we need to really make sure that actually, we're doing things on purpose, and that we're doing it in a way that's aligned with what we're saying. And, yeah, it should be really easy and simple, I think. But actually, sometimes we forget, and we get so carried away with maybe finding new clients or looking for the new, trendy social media reel that we need to be doing, etc, that we forget about actually just doing what we do best, which is delivering on our products and services and adding value and all those things.
I think, for me, as I talk to you all the time, it's building up your brand, it's a long game, it's not a quick process. But I think working through these things, and making sure that we are doing what we say we're doing, and concentrating on delivering that value is really going to help in the long run and building that goodwill and trust. And ultimately, that reputation. And so a lot of people that I talked to, when I'm working with them, tell me that they struggle to to kind of know what their reputation is or how they can measure whether it's working or, you know, they've been trying really hard over the last few years to build awareness and focus on on kind of gaining traction and building that reputation. But they're not sure whether it's working or how to measure it or track it and all those things. And I actually think it's, it's quite tangible as something that we can measure.
And I think, if we can, you know, really focus on what that brand reputation is, then I actually think we can measure and track it and see it evolve by implementing different things as we go along. So one of the basic things that we can do is making sure that we're integrating two way communication within our strategy. So what do I mean by that? I mean, let's actually, instead of just broadcasting all the time, and pushing out communication to our customers, to our audience, let's invite them to join in the conversation and make it two ways. So actually, we're giving them a voice and we're having a conversation, we're engaging with them, and we're inviting them to feedback and to share their experience and to let us know how it's going and what they think about us and ultimately giving us really good feedback. So integrating that into your processes and into the way you work, I believe is really important. And I know, it can be scary. I know people don't necessarily like to ask for feedback, because maybe you get feedback that you don't want to hear. Or you might, you know, maybe you don't want to ask people and put them out or kind of, you know, ask them to do that for you. But I genuinely believe that actually, by asking for feedback, we're showing we care, we're actually showing our customers and our key partners, our key people that we're interested in what they're thinking about our business, we're interested in their experience, and ultimately, we want to improve it. So I really do think having a focus on getting in touch with the customers through surveys,, by inviting them to leave reviews, and then monitoring the reviews, is really key to getting that feedback. And that might be through online surveys, it can be really simple. It just could be maybe an online survey that we send out, it could be a couple of questions, it could be simply picking up the phone and asking people, what they're thinking, how they're finding the experience, what they thought of their product or service, it could be inviting them to write a review. There's all sorts of different ways we can do this. It could be a focus group, it could be just having a chat, it could be through your social media, talent channels.
There's all sorts of things. And I think probably I'll do a full episode on actually asking for feedback and how we can do that. But I think as long as you start to track and you start to monitor how people are experienced in your brand, and their experience with you, then we'll be able to track the evolution. And we'll be able to see, hopefully, that it's improving, that it's increasing. And that actually, you know, we are doing a good job. Because ultimately, that's what we want, isn't it that we want that ripple effect. We want that word of mouth marketing, where our customers are selling our business for us, they're talking about us because we're having such a great time, are they getting exactly what they want from us. So of course, they're going to tell their friends and family about us. And then the final thing where we can monitor this and make sure that we are doing a good job is by tracking returning customers. So those customers you know keep coming back for more. So making sure that we're aware of that and we can monitor that and that we can nurture them as they do that and reward them for doing that.
And then the final thing is about the lifetime value. So thinking of a customer not just as a one off and as a one off experience, but actually how can we make sure that they're coming back time and time again, and increasing that lifetime value? So increasing the spend over time that they have with us, whether that's through, offering new products, offering new services, etc, and adding more value. So there's loads of different ways that you can track what people are saying about you and your business. And ultimately, that's going to feed into, you know, the level of trust and goodwill that you're creating. So yeah, it'd be interesting to see actually, whether you are doing that kind of thing, I know, for some businesses where you are ISO accredited, so one of the quality standards, it has to be part of your procedure, where you are monitoring customer feedback and checking in on, you know, the standard of service and things. So, yeah, my challenge for you this week is just to kind of see whether you can do that and ultimately embed that in and, yeah, see what people are saying, and be brave and ask them, you know, if you can do things better, if you could make this experience even more valuable, what would that be, and you never know, you might get some really good insights into how you can improve and how you can better the whole experience for everybody.
So finally, just before I go, I just wanted to talk to you a little bit about becoming that go-to brand or person for what you do. And essentially, this is about working on your brand and reputation. But in a way, that means you're the go to person for that of that product or service.
So thinking about becoming so good at what you do, so well known for it that people associate you and your brand with what you do. And then again, they recommend and refer you into their friends and colleagues. So final exercise for you is, and we'll talk about this again, in a couple more episodes. But I want you to think about if you were going to be walking into a pub, or your local pubs in town, or wherever you go to hang out, maybe a baby group or you go to a networking event. I want you to think about what you'd like people to say about your brand, and how they should describe you, when they introduce you.
Okay, so if you're if you're meeting somebody, and someone turns around and says, “Oh, this is Lucy, and Lucy is the go to person for….?” What would you like people to say? So for me, I hope people will say, you know, she's the go-to person for all things communication and marketing and helping you build and future proof your small business. And she can help you develop a strategy and a roadmap that works for you and gets you where you want to be. And I think if we can define this sentence, and it goes back to that vision and the mission that we talked about last episode, but if we can define it for you and your brand, that it really helps you to hone in on, you know, what you want to be known for, which then allows us to then be really strategic about this in our messaging and the way that we are going to communicate about our brand and our business.
So my final challenge for you today is to write down the answers to these two questions.
What are you the go-to personal brand for?
And secondly, how would you like to be introduced at a party.
So with that in mind, I would love for you to get in touch and tell me how you get on with these different exercises, how you found them, what you'd like to be known for,, what you'd like people to say about you, and ultimately how you'd like to be introduced. So what you want to be known for, what would you like to be the go-to person for or go-to brand for. So if you'd like to get in touch, I'd love you to get in touch over socials, or at my email address Lucy@lrcomms.co.uk and let me know. But in the meantime, I will be back next week with some extremely exciting news about my new book, which is going to be launching on the fifth of October. So I'm super excited about that. And next week, I'm going to share a little bit of the insights of all the things that have gone on to get me to this stage where my book is going to be going live on Amazon. And I'll tell you a little bit more about the book and all the things that are in that. And yeah, I'll be encouraging you to do the same. And then in the next few episodes, we'll also be kind of taking this next step further and looking at more of your brand messaging, but also how to get under the skin of your ideal client. So I hope you'll join me next week for another episode.
Thanks very much. Take care.
Thanks for listening to the Future Proof Your Business podcast. I've been your host, Lucy Rennie, I hope you've enjoyed this episode. If you have, then I'd love you to head over to Apple Podcast, Google Play, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcast and hit the subscribe button. And I'd really appreciate it if you'd leave a review and a rating and help me to reach even more small business owners like you who want to build a business they love.And don't forget, you can head over to iamlucyrennie.com and sign up to my email list as well as find more tips and tools to help you Future-proof your Business on my website and in the show notes.
Finally, I'd love to invite you to come and join me and lots of other small business owners like you. In my free Facebook group, Communicate with Purpose.
You can find all the links on my website and in the Show Notes.
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I would love to invite you to come and join me and lots of other small business owners like you in my FREE Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CommunicatewithPurpose