Reputation Management

I buy Grace everything, if its not made by Grace I buy Kraft; Lysol, Scotts and  I buy Colgate: Give me Digicel!! What accounts for that? Company reputation. Have you ever given any thought to why you buy the brands you buy? Yes, because they have a reputation of providing what you are looking for, whether it is top quality, cost efficiency or just an image company reputation matters. Most of us have little or no reason to think about all that, we just go in, pick it up and get the hell out: that's another big thing: when a brand's reputation is known it takes 66% less time to decide.

 A friend of mine told me a story about hosting some visitors from Barbados and Trinidad, and because of where they are from she assumed they would prefer Caribe Beers, but they declined. They wanted Red Stripe: and when asked why one man told her Red Stripe sponsors West Indies Cricket: simple. REPUTATION!!!!!

So what exactly is reputation?   According to what I learnt in Org. Comm  Reputation is the totality of emotional and intellectual disposition towards an organisation. Blah!!!! OK!!! A simpler explanation of reputation is that Reputation is what people think or say about you when you are not there, ain't that the truth?

That brings us to why reputation management is important: having a good reputation pans out (1)A premium you can charge for your products, (2) A reputation that enables you to attract and keep talent, (3) A competitive edge and, (4)Shorter purchase cycles.

Colgate may be a bit more expensive than many other toothpastes, but hey its Colgate, it offers more, it is better so the price difference is acceptable. :-) Colgate has become such a household name especially in the Caribbean that most people call all toothpastes Colgate, its as if when you google toothpaste its Colgate that pops up. REPUTATION!!!!

Another important thing about having a good reputation is it works well when you slip up, because your reputation for quality is known it is much easier for people to forgive you when there is a mishap. A classic example of this is the Tylenol case.

Managing your reputation is a huge part of managing your organization, as it is that element that creates a bond between the organization and you publics, it is that element that gets your products picked up over the competitors, it is that element that improves your profits and keeps your stocks climbing. Four out of Five days a week Grace tops the Winners on the Money Market Report::: Reputation!!!!