Consistency is Important in Growing Your Business
When you are working to grow your business, consistency is extremely important.
I’m not just referring to consistency in presenting your brand, or consistency in delivering good service, but even consistency in what you post on social media, what you say to both clients and friends about your business, and how you operate it every day.
The importance of consistency in your business is explained quite brilliantly by Dr. Robert B. Cialdini in the book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.
“Someone without consistency could be judged as fickle, uncertain, pliant, scatterbrained or unstable; how someone with it is viewed as rational, assured, trustworthy, and sound,” he wrote.
If your business is producing and selling a product, it is simpler to be consistent. You establish a process of production, put quality control protocols in place, and 90 percent of the battle is won.
But if you are a consultant, and many of my clients are, then it is harder. You have to know that each time you tell a client you are going to do something for you, you will follow through. You have to do it and in a timely fashion.
That is how trust is built and strengthened in your business relationships, and how your business grows. The customer knows you will look after their needs.
There are other aspects to consistency within your business as well.
For example, there is consistency of story and of purpose. You have to tell this story every time, and make sure all of those who work with you on projects know it by heart as well. The story isn’t merely a history of your company, but it is instead a philosophy of why you are in business and what you do to stay successful in your business.
It is about your values and the story behind them. It is about who inspired those values and how you take the steps to be true to them. It is about how your values translate to values for your clients, today and every day.
Ensure that all your products and services are delivered with the same brand. Your consistency in ensuring that you stay true to what you offer is important and impressive to your clients.
As important as consistency is, it does not mean that your company has to be stagnant. It just means that when you decide to incorporate change, you do so in line with your story, your values, your purpose and your brand.
For example, you may be a professional keynote speaker because you have a great message and you can inspire others to find the better parts of themselves. You travel a lot and deliver your message, and people are always coming up to you at the end of your presentation and asking for more.
So you decide to add to your services and offer day-long seminars or on-line courses, or consulting services.
It is important to remember what drew your audience to you in the first place. What is the story that they longed to hear? What is the brand that they respected? What are the values that you represent that are important to them?
Most importantly, how can you fit all of these things into your growth strategy and the development of your new products or services so that everything stays consistent?
Your core story, your core brand, and your core values don’t change. The way you deliver them does. That is what it means to be consistent in your business.
To ensure that you don’t go astray, it makes good sense to chronicle your story, your values and your brand. When you are onboarding new employees, talk about these qualities and ensure they have written material to support what you are saying. Encourage them to refer back and use those messages consistently in their correspondence and presentations in the future. Make sure that your website and social media outlets all reflect your story, brand and values consistently.
Review your story regularly to ensure that it is still resonating with the audience of each new generation. Review your values to ensure that they adjust to changing cultural mores within the broader society around you. Review your brand and where it appears and check for discrepancies.
Of all the things you have to manage as part of your business growth, consistency of these crucial elements that define who you are and what you do are the most important.
Paula Morand is a leadership building, revenue boosting, strategy expanding keynote speaker, author and visionary. This dreaming big and being bold leadership expert and brand strategist brings her vibrant energy, humor and wisdom to ignite individuals, organizations and communities to lead change, growth and impact in a more bold fashion. 24 years, 27,000 clients, 34 countries, 15 books, former radio personality, 11x award winning entrepreneur and humorous emcee.
Check out Paula’s best selling books: “Bold Courage: How Owning Your Awesome Changes Everything”, “Dreaming BIG and Being BOLD: Inspiring stories from Trailblazers, Visionaries and Change Makers” book series; and due to be released December 6th “Bold Vision: A Leader’s Playbook for Managing Growth” go to Amazon http://ow.ly/i8yW307ix67
Speaking inquiries email bookings@paulamorand.com or call toll-free 1-888-502-6317.