As discussed in some detail in our last post, companies should pay close attention to their corporate image. Creating a positive corporate image is a time consuming process. It entails acting with a certain amount of professionalism, maintaining high standards and most importantly, having a great product. For those of us that are perfectionists, having the patience to keep tabs on everything might come naturally. For others, it is more difficult. Many of the areas in which you can affect your image can seem trivial, it often seems pedantic to devote time looking at how you can manage your corporate image on items like pens.

This is a tempting line of thinking. But, you can be rest assured that in these seemingly trivial areas, the marketing professionals are working to project their desired corporate image. Going this ‘extra mile’ is really what differentiates you from your competitors. So it really is worth expressing yourself on your companies vehicles, site hoardings, letters, communications, emails. It all counts.

Messing Up

But in many ways, this is all common sense. What is less straightforward is the course of action that company should take when it messes up its corporate image. Corporate images are by nature fickle things. They take years to build up and can takes days, or even hours to destroy. It goes without saying that avoiding mistakes should be your number one priority, but sometimes mistakes are unavoidable. But, funnily enough, when your company makes a mistake, there is a window of opportunity for you to prove how good of a business you actually are, or in other words, back up core values that you stress in your corporate image.

To show what we mean, we have listed some steps that you can take to improve upon your corporate image when you make a mistake.

• Honesty pays from the start. Most people in business will accept an honest response to a problem. They are quite well aware they themselves may also make mistakes and need to same kind of forbearance.
• Frank admission and explanation of why and what went wrong with the job will go a long way towards clearing up any confusion that your clients have.
• Draw up a clear plan of action to outline a solution to the problem. Let your client know exactly what you are going to do about it.
• Keep in touch. Let your client know exactly where you are in fixing the problem. This will go a long way to claming them down, at once making them feel valued and letting them know that you are on top of the situation.
• Finally, once the problem is cleared up, let your clients know. Show them what you did, in other words, let them know just how seriously you take their business and how valuable they are to you.

Good firms pay a lot of attention to the restoration of good relationship. If a job goes wrong, but is handled right, a problem can actually help to build a your reputation. If you consistently handle problems with the same professionalism and sincerity that governs your everyday business, you will have a better chance of turning a potential failure into a great success, which will boost your corporate image.

The post is based on part of a lecture given by David Crick, Managing Director of CBD, at the University of Leeds, November 2007.