I
love a good cup of coffee. There’s just
something about waking up to that sweet aroma that gets me going every
day. I think Folgers was onto something. To the dismay of my wife and friends, I also enjoy
a bad cup of coffee. Have you ever had reheated
coffee? Broke down and made a cup of
instant “coffee”? Enjoyed a cup after it’s
been sitting on the burner all day? Yes,
yes, and yes for this guy. Even so, I
can still tell the difference between a good cup and a bad cup.
In
our house, we’d burn through a can of coffee about every week and a half. I was adamant that the generic Columbian
roast tasted just like the name brand.
Since we all split the cost, I bought the generic one time and never
heard the end of it. It “didn’t taste
right” and “just wasn’t as good”. After
that fiasco, we went back to the name brand coffee and all was good in the world. Or so they thought. Somewhere between opening the new can and the
end of that new can, I bought the generic brand and filled the brand name can
back to the top. And as I heard, you
would never believe how good the “brand name” coffee tasted in comparison to
the stuff I bought!
Let’s
switch gears to you business. If you
produce a product or offer a service similar to your competitors, why do your
customers buy from you instead? Have you won awards? Are you known for providing the best widget
or building the best home? If you’re a
trucker, do you have a top notch safety record and history of being reliable
and always delivering on time? With all the similar options available, why
should I buy from you?
Often,
it’s your name and reputation. If you’ve
taken over an existing company, they have been molded and crafted for generations. Or if you are a startup, yours are still
fairly fresh in comparison. It takes a
long time to build a solid name for yourself or business, but it can take just
an instant to take all that goodwill away.
What have you done to protect your name or your image? If you’ve lost that good name, what would it
do to your revenue?
Ryan
Braun. ENRON. Anthony Weiner. AIG.
Alex Rodriguez. Pete Rose. Exxon.
Washington Mutual. Martha
Stewart. The Dixie Chicks. What is the first thing that comes to your
mind as you read these names? 1)
Cheater. 2) Fraud. 3) Sexting.
4) Bailout. 5) Cheater. 6) Disgraced Gambler. 7) Exxon Valdez environmental disaster. 8) Fraud.
9) Insider Trading. 10)
Unpatriotic has-beens.
I’ll
bet you didn’t even consider all of their accomplishments or their history
prior to the one day that sticks in your mind.
And that’s the point. There are a
lot of thriving companies out there who have built a solid reputation over the
years. Luckily for Exxon, they eventually
recovered after years and years of PR work and trying to rebuild their
reputation. I’ll bet it wasn’t easy,
especially with how the oil companies are vilified in today’s society.Think about your current situation. What would a poor decision, mistake, or bad PR do to your company? If you don’t have a PR recovery plan in place, it’s probably time to start thinking about it. Good planning is good business, and it would be foolish not to consider the impact that unexpected bad press could do to your business. You buy insurance on your building to protect it in case it would be destroyed, and this isn’t very probable. Bad press is more likely, and it could cause you to lose significant revenue including possible failure of your business.
I
was born with it. It defines who I am,
and my dad and those before him made it strong.
It takes a lifetime and generations to build a solid name, and seconds
to lose it. The Bertram name does not
have a price tag. So I’m going to keep it how I got it, as
solid as it came. It’s my last name. Can
the same be said about yours?
Andy Bertram CPCU, ARM-E
Risk Advisor
C.O. Brown
651-800-6173
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