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Why Image Matters
by Shannon Scully

If you're like most small business owners, you don't have an in-house staff of marketing specialists. Serving customers, paying bills and sorting through mail is probably higher on your list than "fluff" items like considering what people think about your business. But image may be more important to your bottom line than you think.

Big businesses certainly think so. Ninety-four percent of CEOs believe "corporate reputation is critical to achieving their strategic business objectives," according to a recent survey by public relations firm Hill & Knowlton.

Competing against a national chain that's invested millions in brand building may seem daunting. But images aren't created through ad dollars alone. In a small business, image is established by the way the owner and employees interact with customers and the community every day.

Everything from your store's appearance to the way your employees dress and even how you're involved in local activities contributes to how customers perceive your business. On the following pages, you'll learn about small business owners who get it – entrepreneurs who invested time and money into polishing their image. They'll tell you the payoff is worth it. They'll tell you why image matters.

What's the first thought you'd want a customer to have about your business? Maybe it's that you've got a clean store, a friendly staff, quality products or that you're involved in the community. So what are you doing to promote that image?

The Company
The Wills Company Inc.
Residential remodeling and repair
Nashville, Tenn.

The Image Challenge
Battling negative industry stereotypes

The Solution
Don't expect to find cigarette butts littering the job site of one of The Wills Company's remodeling projects. You won't hear music blaring from trucks parked in the front yard either. That's because the owners of this 18-employee company require subcontractors to follow a few policies, which they spell out on signs placed in the yards of houses they're remodeling.

"We're working in people's homes, so it's important we treat them well," says co-owner Ridley Wills, who admits contractors constantly fight negative stereotypes.

The job-site policy signs started as a way to help managers enforce the rules that address everything from worker appearance to daily litter removal. A bonus has been the recognition gained by passersby.

"For our clients, the rules are what set us apart. For their neighbors, it's a great marketing tool," says Wills, who owns the 11-year-old company along with partner Wendell Harmer.

Happy customers come back, and 40 percent of The Wills Company's jobs are repeat clients or referrals.

"If you show up to do a job with guys who don't care about being professional, you may do well on that job, but the next one won't come as easily," says Harmer, who trains workers to pick up the newspaper in the driveway when they arrive at a client's house each morning. "It costs money to provide professional service, but our clients are comfortable with us. They come back, and the repeat business keeps us going."

He and Wills focus constantly on how others see their company. They even read their mission statement out loud before each week's staff meeting. When Wills noticed recently that workers were wearing hats from other companies because they liked the way they fit, he went out and bought similar hats with their company's logo.

"Everything we do says something about our company," says Wills, who gives employees gift certificates when he notices a job done well.

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