Sunday, August 16, 2009

Your Reputation, It's Your Most Important Asset

If you decide to go into business for yourself, it's imperative to have an impeccable reputation. You should always be establishing your credibility and strengthening your reputation whenever possible.

It won't happen overnight but it can be built very quickly if you take some bold steps to get there quicker.

First of all, people must be talking about you to begin with otherwise you won't have much involvement with them. Developing your reputation amongst your customers, prospects and network is a process of taking exceptional care and concern for their well being. In addition, you must be reliable, honest and come from a place of strong integrity to always do what's right.

Being ethical and standing behind your word is one of the strongest ways to build your reputation.

Has this ever happened to you? You give a referral to someone that you believe will take excellent care of your friend and then never call the person back or follow up in any way! What about if they give a quote for something and then end up charging double when the job is completed? What they don't realize is each time they drop the ball; they score worse on their reputation report card!

Your reputation is an accumulation of everyone's experience with you. If you continue to provide bad service, mislead or confuse them, they will share their opinion about you whether you want them to or not.

When it comes to business, the marketplace is your critic. You already know that people talk about bad experiences they have so try and avoid it at all costs, even if that means you lose a little money. If you miscalculated something, that's your fault, not your customers. Think of the consequences before making that judgment call.

If you make a commitment to someone, follow through otherwise be fully accountable for why you can't. I once knew this woman that was desperately trying to protect her name but she kept letting people down or disappearing. People around would ask what happened to her and then share how disappointed they were by her lack of service. There were some that refused to give her any business because of it.

When you provide more value than you need to, continue to stay on top of every situation, honor all relationships with the highest integrity you have and show respect for others, you'll earn a powerful reputation. Eventually, it will be so strong that you don't have to prove yourself because your reputation will precede you!



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Darlene_Willman

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