Never anchor a boat by the stern alone. If you do, it could swamp (fill with water) or even capsize.
It’s a simple but important rule to live by if you’re a sailor or even weekend boating enthusiast. The same rule applies to your small business. Whatever it is you anchor your business to — service, quality, innovation, etc. — can’t be manifested in just one area. It has to be integrated throughout your organization. If not, you’ll be found out and proven to be a fraud. You’ll sink.
This idea surfaced in a recent conversation I had with Tom Cottingham, the CEO and publisher of InsiderLouisville.com, formerly the same position with TechRepublic which wound up a CNET/CBS property. He brought up an important example to drive the point home. I’ll paraphrase, but know that it’s close to what he said:
“You’re all about customer service? Okay. Let me see everything the customer sees. Not just the marketing or the call center scripts. Let me see your return policy. Let me see your invoices. Let me see your inventory orders.”
Tom’s point was that if you anchor your business on customer service, you can’t just have a great call center or say, “My Pleasure!” after every exchange with a customer. You have to be a customer service organization from top to bottom and side to side. Every piece of paper that goes out the door must represent your position of leading with customer service. Every employee has to understand the priority and know how to deliver on it through their actions — whether they actually touch customers directly or not.
He also explained that most organizations today — large and small — fail to communicate and integrate what they anchor the business to throughout the organization. Thus, most organizations fail to ultimately deliver on their anchor. And they sink. Or at least leave customers disappointed.
Your Action Items
Take the anchor you’ve defined for your business. Now run EVERYTHING through a filter by asking the question, “Does this deliver on our promise?” And I mean everything. Your return address labels. Your letterhead. Your Pay-Per-Click copy. Your retail space. The way you answer the phone. The way you interact with vendors. EVERYTHING.
If you don’t, you’re anchoring your boat to the stern alone. You’re gonna get wet.