Our Values
Most people are not getting what they want. Not from their jobs, not from their families, nor their religions, nor their governments - in most cases, not even from themselves. Purpose is missing from their lives. A sense of relationship is missing. As is a sense of order.
And most of the time people don't even realize they're missing these things. But they are. Have you ever walked out of a business with a vague feeling of being unsatisfied? It probably wasn't anything you could put your finger on but right then you made a decision not to return. The decision might not even have been a conscious one but when you needed that service again you decided to try someplace else. Next time it happens to you, think about how these things affected your decision: a sense of relationship, a consistent, orderly experience, a feeling that the business cared about you. It's likely that the reason you decided not to patronize the business again is directly related to one of these things.
Our business is a marketing tool. Every element of our business must work together seamlessly to create a unified whole - to portray to our customers why it is we are in business. And that is NOT simply to make money! It's something much more important: it is to provide our customers with a valuable service AND a sense of relationship, caring, consistency and order. If we do this, and if we mean it when we do it, the money will follow.
We never treat people, no matter what their attitude towards us, as resources, customers, or walking bags of money. We treat them as people, but more than that as people we would like to become friends with. Not necessarily the best of friends but something more than mere acquaintances.
We do this by taking a personal interest in their lives, beyond the service we are providing for them.
And this is remarkably easy. All we need do is talk to them - get to know them a little through the simple act of conversation.
We show that we care by taking extra time to insure that our clients feel comfortable with us and our service.
We show that we care by paying attention to what our clients say, by picking up on subtle needs whether they're directly related to the deal or not, and by taking the time to provide them with help.
For example, during the initial visit with a business owner, you may discover the business owner wants to install hardwood floors in their house. A few days later you hear of an exceptional deal on oak flooring and give the owner a call to let them know about it.
To make sure we don't miss these opportunities, we do the following. When we leave an appointment, we take time to make / update a tickler card about our prospect or client. If there is some way we can help them, we make an action item out of it.
We show that we care by sending out thank you notes and by following up after our business is done. We inquire on a personal and business level.
We show that we care by calling our active clients once a week to update them on our progress on their behalf. We make one personal inquiry during the call.
And finally, once our current business with a client is done, we call three days after closing and also send out a thank you note one week after closing. We call one more time one month after closing to inquire how things are working out. At that point, we make contact at least once every six months.
Everything we do portrays a sense of order. Orderliness gives our clients the sense that we know what were doing.
- We keep our appointments, religiously.
- We show up on time without fail.
- We meet our commitments exactly as we've said we will.
- We never indicate we can do something when we can't.
- We practice our presentations so that we always appear to know what we're doing, even if we don't. And if we don't, we practice until we do.
- We always dress professionally: in a dark suit (navy blue or charcoal gray), a white shirt, and a conservative tie.
Consistency
Clients will not feel comfortable, EVEN IF OUR SERVICE IS SUPERB, if they do not receive a CONSISTENT EXPERIENCE every time they do business with us. Consistency is very closely related to order.
We will provide a consistent service, doing everything exactly the same way every time.
In our business, consistency is best shown through: the use of standardized forms, consistent elements in all of our advertising, presentations, letterhead, and other literature, in the way we answer the phone and in our regularity in keeping contact.
