MBA2469 How To Build a Reputation That Serves You

0:08Heyo! Welcome to the$100 MBA show, the business podcast that gives you practical business lessons that stick. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher, Omar Zenhom, and in today's lesson, you will learn how to build a reputation that serves you. Whether you're just starting out, or you've been in business for years, or even decades like myself, your reputation is one of the most valuable assets. It's right up there with your time. What exactly is your reputation? It's what people say about you when you're not in the room. So how do you build a reputation that not only precedes you, but also advocates for you, helps you make connections, close deals, makes business a whole lot easier.

0:51Well, that's what today's lesson is all about. I've been in business for over 20 years, and I got to tell you, reputation is pretty much everything. It's a very small world out there in business. Pretty much everybody knows everybody, which means your reputation means more than how much money you make, what you've accomplished, or any awards or accolades we might think are significant. Your reputation is what represents you. So we've got to build a good one. Let's get into it. Let's get down to business. I want to start by saying that your reputation is something that you really need to protect like some sort of fragile vase that's worth millions and millions of dollars.

1:25Why? Because a crack in that vase we call reputation completely devalues it. It can go from being worth millions to worth pennies. As one of my favorite comedian Dave Chappelle has said, you don't get unfamous, you get infamous. So where do we start? How do we make sure our reputation helps us and our business even when we're not around? Let's start with the basics. Let's start with something that you need to do to start with. And that's step one, deliver exceptional value. Always exceed expectations with your products, your services, how you do anything, whether you're on stage, giving a presentation at a conference, or you're on a sales call.

2:06A study from Harvard Business Review highlights that companies that prioritize customer service generate 60 % higher profits compared to the competitors. Listen, when you elevate the value you're offering, especially in the way you deliver your products or services, you can demand more. You can demand more money. You can increase your prices. Prime example of this is Disney. Disney is expensive. If you try to go on a Disney holiday, stay at their hotels, go to their parks, It's going to cost you a bit of money. And it's because they over-deliver. They have a higher threshold of value than most.

2:42And that's why they demand so many customers. And because they have higher prices, their profits are higher. And because they can command higher prices, their profits are higher. All right. So you're going to deliver exceptional value. You're going to do the best you can in everything you do. You're going to build that solid foundation with your product or service. Because by the way, no amount of marketing is going to sustain a business if they have a bad reputation. Marketing really works when you have a good reputation, when you're marketing something great, something valuable. Step two, be consistent.

3:12Do the right thing, deliver exceptional value, but consistently. Consistence builds trust and trust builds reputation. That's how it works. When you're consistent, people see over and over that you deliver and that they can trust you. This is regardless of what you're doing in your business, whether you're handling an irate customer or you're dealing with a quality control issue with your product, you've got to be consistent. Or maybe you're responding to somebody on social media. Consistency shows you're reliable. In preparation of this episode, I came across a Forbes report emphasizing that brands seen as reliable have as much as a 30 % higher customer retention rate over their competitors.

3:52Prime example of this is Toyota. Toyota has a reputation of being reliable. So when people are looking to trade in and buy a new car, they go back and buy another Toyota because they just love the fact that they're reliable, they don't break down. And Toyota has one of the highest customer retention rates in the automotive industry. Ask anybody with a Toyota. So we're delivering high quality or consistent. Step three, communicate transparently. Listen, I'll be honest, transparency has become like this buzzword now in business and almost seen as like some sort of strategic move. But here's the truth.

4:28Transparency means be honest. Be honest. When you make a mistake, own it. Say, hey, I made a mistake. Let me give you a real example. We got approached from a successful entrepreneur that was looking to do a collaboration where I appear on their podcast and then they appear on ours. This person has done very well in business, but their content is not the best match for our audience. And my style is not the best for his audience. This is not good and bad. This is just not good fit. Unfortunately, I didn't recognize this until I did a deeper dive into our audiences, our mutual audiences. And I realized, okay, I don't think this is going to be the best fit.

5:06I had to get honest and be transparent because the reputation that I hold for myself and for the podcast means everything. So I had to reach out to this person's team and say, hey, I'm really sorry to do this last minute, but we're not going to be able to collaborate. We're not going to be able to do these, you know, interviews. I got nothing negative to say about you guys. We're just not a good fit. And I'd be wasting your time and you would be wasting my time. And I'd rather just get in front of it and tell you that we made a mistake. We should have caught this earlier, but we're going to need to cancel.

5:37This is not easy to do, but it's the right thing to do because you're being honest. You're being true to your reputation, your word, and you're getting in front of it. You're owning it. Because at the end of the day, When you promise something, you have to. You must deliver it. And I promise you, my audience, that I'm going to give you the best quality content that's right for you to help you on your journey. If I break that promise, even once, it's going to damage my reputation and the show's reputation and our trust, our mutual trust. I can't afford to do that. I will not do that. I refuse to do that.

6:10My reputation, the show's reputation, the brand's reputation means the world to me. Check this statistic out from a Sprout Social survey. 85 % of consumers say that transparency from businesses is more important than ever for them. This is powerful. It shows that being open and honest isn't just nice, it's necessary. All right, so we talked about giving exceptional value. We talked about being consistent. We talked about communicating transparently and being honest. Step four, engage with your community. Engagement goes beyond selling or marketing. It's about building relationships, micro relationships, one by one by one by one by one.

6:49This includes engaging on social, replying to comments that are posted on your content, attending local events, hosting webinars or live Q &A, getting on stages at conferences, speaking on other podcasts, doing customer interviews. The more you engage, the more familiar and likable your brand becomes. Data shows that brands that actively engage with their audience or their community grow three times faster on social media. So if you decide to engage and make it interactive, make your content interactive, meaning maybe every time you post, you post a question so you can get people to post an answer or post their opinion.

7:27If you do that, you can grow three times faster. That's pretty compelling. At the end of the day, you're gonna need more than just yourself and the efforts of your team to grow your business. You're gonna need a movement. You're gonna need a community. You're going to need a culture, people advocating for you, people rooting you on, people telling other people about you and your business. Now, I know about engagement. One of the things I love to do is seek feedback from my audience. This is where many businesses fall short or fail. You should really utilize soliciting feedback through surveys, focus groups, informal customer chats in person or online.

8:01I've talked about customer interviews. Then most importantly, use that feedback and take action. You don't have to take action on everything everybody says, right? You can just filter it through your experiences and your knowledge and your abilities to execute. But you should be listening to your customers, to your audience. They know what they want and they're going to voice it. And finally, step five, and this kind of goes without saying, be ethical. Stand for something. Stand for a cause because when you do that, your business can last longer when it's not just doing it for the money. Ethical businesses are not only good morally, but they're good for business.

8:34People can get behind an idea more than they can get behind a product. Maybe your take on being ethical is giving some of your proceeds to charity. Maybe for you, it's cleaning up your market and having a stance that's not that popular, but it's for the good in your industry. You get to choose. That's the beauty of entrepreneurship. That wraps up today's episode. Don't forget, building your reputation is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time, effort, and genuine commitment from you to build an excellent reputation for you and your brand. Thanks so much for listening to The$100 MBA Show. If you love what you're listening to, if you love the show, if you have gotten anything out of this episode or any of our episodes, there's one very simple way to say thank you.

9:17Just hit the follow button on whatever podcast app you're on right now, whether it's Spotify or Apple Podcasts, wherever it is, just follow the show. By doing that, you help us reach more people through the algorithm so that we can grow the show, reinvest in the show, and continue to provide great business lessons for you. Thank you so much for doing that. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. When you're building a reputation, it's often more about what you don't do and not what you do. This is where you have to practice saying no to some things. Sometimes you have to just have a stance and stand for something and say, that's not going to fly with me and not going to fly with my team or my audience.

9:49That's not easy, but it's those decisions that define who you are and what people say about you. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll check you in the next episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

10:19Thank you.