(10) Basic Tenets of Great Companies

Is your company a "great" company today? What constitutes a great company? Are there established criteria, like the Good Housekeeping Seal, that all great companies must adhere to in order to be deemed great?

Each year Fortune magazine completes the most extensive employer survey in the corporate world and publishes its list of the "100 Best Companies To Work For". The survey ranks the top companies in a variety of major categories including size, job growth, low turnover, no layoffs, women, diversity, etc.

As you would expect, there are quite a few highly recognized brand names that made Fortune's Top 100 list for 2010 including Microsoft, Nordstrom, Google, FedEx, Starbuck's, Intel and others. And each year, there are also some lesser known companies that appear on the list as well, such as NuggetMarket and Umpqua Bank to name just a couple from this year's list.

What makes these companies and others great companies to work for and leaders within their respective industry segments?

When I think of great companies, here is my list of the (10) basic tenets that great companies seem to have in common.

1. Recognize that customers and employees are their greatest assets.
2. Combine great vision with strong core values and superb execution.
3. Stay connected to their employees, customers, partners and suppliers.
4. Demand quality and excellence in everything and everyone, and hold people accountable for great results.
5. Continually search for ways to deliver more value to customers, and stay ahead of the competition.
6. Make course corrections when and where needed, and realize that perfect failures are sometimes necessary to accelerate the speed of change.
7. Follow the Golden Rule principle in their treatment of others, and create win-win partnerships in all major areas of the business.
8. Value and reward diversity, teamwork, collaboration, smart risk-taking and innovation.
9. Lead by real-world experience and example, not by the latest management dogma.
10. Set high standards for performance, and consistently exceed their business and financial goals.

Whether your business is a start-up or has been around for awhile, everyone wants to be a part of building something special - a great company. Great companies set the standards by combining strong core values with great vision, people, products and leadership. An unstoppable formula for success!

While there may not be a Good Housekeeping Seal required to be labeled as a great company, we all know great companies when we see them, and have had positive experiences doing business with them.

Is your company a great company today? If not, then I hope my list of the (10) basic tenets of great companies will serve as a guidepost to help you get there in the not too distant future!


COPYRIGHT © 2010 John Carroll

Connect Your Message With Your Audience

Although it is widely stated that 93% of communication is non-verbal, getting the remaining 7% that is verbal right is essential in building credibility and trust with your target audience.

This year I have been speaking to various networking groups about "How to Improve Your 30-Second Elevator Pitch" as a part of our Back to Basics 2.0 business series. These presentations emphasize the importance of constructing the right message(s) in communicating your customer value proposition to a diverse audience, and building new alliances and business relationships.

Whether it's your 30-second elevator pitch, headline for a sales letter, Blog article, YouTube video or another form of communication, here are some important things for you to consider when developing your message with a specific target audience in mind:

• Have something important to say. The message to your target audience needs to be clear, concise, on-topic, and packed with rich content that motivates them to keep reading or listening.
• Choose your words carefully. Make sure your vocabulary fits the intended audience. Use powerful words and phrases they fully understand to help engage them in a dialogue.
• Create a visual image for the reader or listener to strengthen the connection with your audience. Tell a brief story relevant to the topic to peak their interest, and help get your point across.
• Be sure your message is goal oriented and designed with a specific outcome in mind. Your message needs a call to action so the audience knows what you want and most importantly, what is in it for them.
• Adjust your message content to ensure that you've connected with your target audience. If you are developing a new flyer for example, create 3-5 different messages and then test each to determine which one yields the best response rates.

One of the biggest challenges we all encounter is how to design the appropriate message when multiple target audiences are involved. Here I would stress selecting general topics or themes that appeal to the masses, or tighter focused messages that hit each of the target audiences separately. The latter requires much more effort and forethought, but ultimately should result in higher response rates.

While there is no one right answer when it comes to connecting your message with your audience, the more you know about your target audience, the easier it will be to craft a message that produces the desired result.


COPYRIGHT © 2010 John Carroll