Designing a Business with Strong Character
Tony Ajah-
Successful businesses as we see them today the world over were deliberately fashioned to the taste of the designer. Business is a craft and every businessman is a craftsman. I have come to the awareness that creating a business with a ‘positive self concept’ and strong market presence, character and identity is the highest art of ‘businessing’. This is business intelligence in its crystal form.
You can craft your own enviable business whichever way you want and like it to be; it’s entirely your making. To achieve this objective, you have to know how. It takes knowledge, personal responsibility and mastery of your craft and tools to deliver a business masterpiece. This is the property of business creativity.
Creativity to some of us is mystical; a thing meant for a selected few. It’s not so and shouldn’t be so. For clearer understanding, let me define this subject. Creativity is simply the ‘ability to create’ (just any anything). It’s as simple as that. Be it a car, a house, a painting, an outfit – tangible or intangible. I mean anything your mind can think or imagine. It doesn’t necessarily need to be outstanding. Just get started.
For the purpose of this writing, we will be looking at three selected areas you can concentrate in creating or, rather, crafting a business with competitive advantage.
In your Brand
Every business has a brand message mostly expressed through written, audio, visual and other contents. It’s what your ‘product-services’ are perceived to be in the eyes of the market. I will not be wrong if I say that a brand is the perception it generates in the eyes and mind of the people. Notable brands bond to the people and convert a lot of them to buyers of the brand or brand loyalists.
Interestingly, strong brands are created; they are truly a work of art or craft. You can create an enviable brand evident to everyone around you that will stand out amid a massive chorus of competitors. Most of what happens in the business place is perception and every exceptional perception is a product of craftsmanship. Creating a positive emotional association in the market for your ‘product-service’ is the key to a strong brand.
I want to believe that you already know who your markets are. You can now touch them through a highly targeted message that would blast into their minds. This will give your business competitive edge in the midst of the rest. You can do this as an artist through creative and strategic positioning. But you’ve got to know specifically what the market wants and deliver it to them in all measure. Give your perceivers a good brand experience, something they will live with for a very long time – a brand that creates want and desire by the mere mentioning of it, drives perception, improves desirability and increases preference. Make yours that brand and watch your business come on fire.
Credibility
In the words of Edward R. Murrow, ‘To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible’. To hit it big in business requires great deal of persuasiveness and ‘proactiveness’. And credibility gives you a swift ride to getting there.
A business outfit may possess all the pomp and pageantry and get the unimaginable hypes but without credibility, it’s bound to fail with time. Many leading establishments today trade on this age-long business winning tool. When a business lacks integrity, people tend to discredit whatever it represents.
Whenever we come to know an organisation for the first time, we always have this unconscious question at the back of our minds: Are they credible enough to do business with? Can we trust them? Check it out, the loyalty you have for most businesses you are faithful to is because you trust them and you trust them because they are credible. Persuasion starts with credibility. It may happen unconsciously but it does after all.
Credibility primarily rests on two pillars: trust and expertise
Pillar of Trust: The word sincerity comes from the Latin word sincerus which literally means, ‘without wax’. In ancient times, unethical pillar carvers used wax to mask their mistakes or to hide flaws in the marble. Only after many years of weathering did the wax fall out to reveal the deception practiced by the long-gone carver. Thus, a sincere person was without wax, or un-camouflaged. You business is as unique as you are and should be very original. As Anne Morrow Lindbergh taught, ‘The most exhausting thing you can be is inauthentic’. Now make yourself interesting and project it to the world.
Pillar of Expertise: In one experiment carried out at an Australian University, a man was introduced as a guest speaker from Cambridge University in England. However, his expertise was represented differently to each class. To the first class, he was introduced as student; to the second as a demonstrator; to the third class as a lecturer; to the fourth as a senior lecturer; and to the fifth class, he was introduced as a professor.
After each class, the students were asked to estimate his height. Remarkably, with each increase in expertise, the same man grew in stature by an average of half an inch. As a professor, he was perceived as two and half inches taller than as a student. So it is in the business world. Your expertise enlarges you and puts you ahead.
What’s your business? Do you display expertise on it? Experts typically demonstrate their expertise with mastery of their business and they keep enhancing their expertise in the eyes of the market. They could do that through, for instance, writing articles and making professional contributions in their fields. Also, being referred to, endorsed or quoted and increasing the numbers of your testimonial suggest expert status and it’s good for your business. What do you think?
Credibility, as taught by Harry Mills in his book ‘Artful Persuasion’ must be built on three levels. At the first level, you have to build your personal credibility. This involves selling yourself and demonstrating your mastery of issues (in your classified area). At the second level, you have to sell the credibility of your ideas. At the third level, you have to sell the credibility of the organisation or business you represent. It’s not enough to be trustworthy. You have to provide demonstrated proof of your credibility. When you present yourself as credible, then you are credible.
Visibility:
Visibility builds credibility. To be credible, you have to be repeatedly seen in your domain and where the seeker seeks. With consistent visibility, you can be the one everyone is talking about and sooner you become the one they enjoy doing business with. Your business abilities and potentials are not as important as your visibility. The public usually perceive as the best those they see and hear often. Coca-cola got the magic and still leads in the world of beverage drinks till today.
What are you waiting for? Constant exposures through the media, press releases and PR involvements have the capacity to drastically reposition your business. Cultivate the craft. Your ‘product-services’ don’t necessarily have to be the best; just tilt it at an angle where you’d always be seen as the best. The observer’s perception is his reality. If what people perceive about you is really what you mean to them, then your business image in the eyes of the market is what you are.
Be ‘omnipresent’; a business-cynosure. Make it a priority and be creative about it. What we see often usually enters our hearts. Will it be a crime if your business enters the heart of the market? You can do this through what I call ‘executive-wooing through a highly selected and suggestive message’. Visibility pays off in dividends in every business, and it’s profit-friendly. One more thing, visibility gives you access to people’s attention. Let me reveal to you a business secret. Attention is money and it’s one of the world’s scarcest resources. Every business needs attention. Those who don’t have it want it badly while those who have it want to retain at all cost. Companies pay millions in form of advert to get attention. They know what they are doing. The businesses that blossom are those that have the highest attention, that is, businesses that have the highest attention have the largest share and get ROA (Return on Attention). Think about it. Give them the reason to pay attention.
On a final note, brand and/or perception, credibility, and visibility are intertwined; one complimenting the other. They are useful tools for giving your business a wing for a strong identity. In case you still need some professional advice, feel free to get my attention. It’s up to you to make your business happen.
Tony Ajah is a Business Growth Strategist. He is the Principal Strategist, TA Strategic Solutions, a Lagos-based firm that is into business development. tony@ta-strategies.com www.ta-strategies.com ajahxt@yahoo.co.uk 08051403056
