As entrepreneurs, we typically have a hundred ideas a day and are often tempted to shift from idea to idea at a moment’s notice. While this attribute might have its positive aspects, it often causes us to lose focus of what is important. Customers want to do business with companies who exhibit clarity, consistency and continuity.

Clarity

Your message should be very concise and clear to your target market. A clear vision is simple and relevant to potential customers and the firm’s future.

Consistency

Being inconsistent with your corporate purpose could cause consumers to become very confused. For example, it will be very confusing to my clients if I started offering them pizza, dry cleaning and housekeeping services with their consulting engagement. Clients will be very confused as to what I was about. When asked by a possible referral what I do, the answer will be, “I can’t quite tell you”.

Customers should be able to verbalize what you do in five seconds or less and the only they can do that is if your message has been consistent over the years.

Continuity

A business should operate from the long term perspective that leadership is going to change over time. However, regardless of how much change there is, corporate core values and strategic objectives should be the same. A business should have a vision and mission which communicates its core set of values and everything the corporation does should stem from there.

Illustration from the profit

To illustrate my point, I will dissect an episode of The Profit aired on CNBC http://www.cnbcprime.com/the-profit/video/the-profit-throwing-money-in-the-trash/.

In this episode, we see the Lano Company a 10 year old cosmetic company. This company is operated by Miranda and Layne Coggins (a married couple). The company is based out of Kansas City, Missouri. The company started by selling lip gloss that contained a medical grade lanolin. The company used the success of the product to launch other products. The problem with this, is the companies had no core values and so there was no consistency or continuity in the new products. Even though the Lano Company was very profitable, Marcus (the show host and investor) explained that the company’s future was in jeopardy if they did not get it together.

Marcus came to the rescue of Lano Company by making a 20% equity investment for $500,000. In additional, Miranda and Layne will pay Marcus $50,000 a year till the money is paid back. With Marcus on board, Lano Company was able to make plans to incorporate consistency and continuity into the business. The future of the firm is now brighter with Marcus and they are now on a trajectory to become even more profitable.

The Lesson

Every entrepreneur needs someone who holds them accountable to the core values of the company. Without this accountability there is little chance of a future as clarity, consistency and continuity are three things customers look for. Be sure to check out the full episode on CNBC : Quite an interesting episode!

Hope to see you at my next master mind session. Email me at lifestylecpa@gmail.com if interested.