Zero-G Creative

Fair dealing and ethical sales practices in business should be the rule, NOT the exception

May 21 2010

I ended up staying up way too late last night writing this Jerry Maguire-esque “mission statement,” but it was important to me. Over the last few weeks, I’ve witnessed a lot of poor conduct in the small business community and I’m just shocked to see what people are willing to do to earn a buck. Not to say that we should all forget about making money and start running charities; for most of us, profits aren’t optional and our families depend on our businesses just as they would depend on our employers if we were regular old corporate guys and gals.

But that being said, can anyone give me a legitimate reason NOT to conduct yourself in an ethical manner? Is it so tough to make money AND do the right thing? I am not perfect (far from it) but I do make an effort every day to run my business in a way I can be proud of. The truth is that, no matter what business you’re in, running it with high moral standards is not only easy and emotionally rewarding, but also a point of differentiation in a marketplace that seems — increasingly, in my opinion — less than concerned about doing right by their clients. And if that’s not enough reason to pay attention, I also believe that being a good business citizen is also profitable. After all, long-term customer relationships are built on trust and if your customers can trust and respect you, they are likely to keep you around longer.

Every business is different, but I definitely suggest that all business owners take the time to define the elements key to ethical conduct in their businesses. Seeing what I’ve seen recently, I’ve taken my own advice and started writing down the most important guidelines in ethics and fair dealing that we’ve incorporated into the business here at Zero-G. A lot of these have been part of the business since day one; some were learned later, “the hard way.” Below are the top 10, in no particular order:

1. Help the client make the best possible decision for them — even if that means NOT hiring us: Bottom line, if you are not a good fit for us, we need to stop trying to sell you something that you’re not going to want and instead shift gears and try to help you get what you need someplace else.

2. Don’t “nickel and dime” the client: If we quote a project and the scope/expectations don’t change, the price shouldn’t either.

3. Focus on core competencies: It seems that every day we’re approached by someone new who wants to share a fantastic reseller or affiliate opportunity that’s going to make us “tons” of money every month. While Zero-G does resell some services like web hosting and printing, we do so primarily because sourcing these items is a convenience to our clients and improves our efficiency in completing projects which saves time and ultimately money; a savings which can be passed back to our clients. We will not sell products or services though that do not help make us a better agency, that compromise our neutrality and that may potentially create conflicts of interest as we serve our clients.

4. Don’t cut corners: This one is easy… If we can’t be proud of what we can accomplish given the tools, budget and people we have available and in the time given, we should pass on the opportunity. Doing otherwise is not fair to anyone.

5. Believe in the client: If — for any reason — we are not comfortable with a client’s business model, we will pass on the opportunity to work with them. In our business, we’ve been offered a variety of “interesting” projects and if they challenge us ethically, create conflicts of interest, or we simply can’t get behind them 200%, we decline.

6. Treat the client’s business like it’s our own: This is a variation on a phrase that my CEO at my last corporate job used frequently — and I still believe in it. To me, this means being honest, making responsible decisions with the client’s time and money and doing whatever it takes (within legal and practical limits of course) to influence their success. Sometimes that means telling your client something that they don’t want to hear and sometimes it means leaving potential revenue opportunities for us on the table to better serve the client’s interests.

7. Contribute positively to the community: For me, this is twofold. I think it’s important to contribute positively to the community as a whole by engaging in charitable/philanthropic activities (Zero-G donated about $10K in time to a local charity last year and we have plans to do something similar this year) — but it’s also important to impact your small business community. I think it’s wonderful when small business owners can be generous with their time and lend their experience to a fellow entrepreneur who could use a little helpful advice. I do this as much as I can. And as much as I enjoy helping small business owners in general, I have a special place in my heart for people getting started in the design and web business. I’ve done a lot of coaching for graphics folks and programmers trying to establish themselves and that has been very gratifying.

8. Never use ignorance as a sales tool: Many small business owners haven’t done a lot of marketing; they don’t always know what they need and may not have the right experience/tools to make a good hiring choice. Pushing the sale without providing some level of education beforehand is irresponsible. If they don’t know HOW to make a good decision on how to move forward with a particular initiative, I need to provide that information before they invest in me. Having all the facts may lead them in a different direction or possibly even cement my firm as the front-runner. Either way is fine. As long as I can provide a client with a great experience in the meantime I never feel as if my time is being wasted.

9. My responsibility to our clients extends beyond my contract: If I sit back and allow my client to spend money with a firm or individual that I know won’t deliver or can’t deliver what they are promising, I am not doing my job. My clients are solicited all the time by phony SEO and social media experts, people selling “too good to be true” advertising schemes and a variety of other marketing industry parasites. Sometimes my clients are already in a dysfunctional relationship with a service provider when I get there. Either way, it’s my responsibility to give them a “heads up” that spending money with certain folks is a bad idea, even though my firm may not have been hired to offer those opinions. The final decision is always in the client’s hands but I can’t withhold valuable information. In my opinion, it’s analogous to witnessing a crime but not calling the police.

10. Do unto others: I spent years as a corporate guy and, as such, played the role of “client” every day. And during that time, I was subjected to more than a few bad vendors. I need to conduct my business in a way that — were I the client — I would not want to fire myself.

I am not a saint and as I said before I am far from perfect. As with all firms, our batting average is less than 1.000 when it comes to delivering complete customer satisfaction. But I am an honest marketer and a fair businessperson who works hard for the benefit of my clients — and I believe strongly that this fact along with guidelines like the ones I’ve detailed here have been a major driver in the success of my company. I am certainly not “unique” in using a moral compass to guide my business principles, but it does feel sometimes that I’m among a dying breed. To me, that’s a real shame.

And by the way, I know I said earlier that my “top 10″ were guidelines in the business. As I’m wrapping up this novella of a blog post though, I now realize that’s not good enough. As of this writing, these 10 principles are now a business mandate and from this day forward I will invite and encourage any client to hold us to them.

If anyone wants to comment, I would really enjoy hearing about how other entrepreneurs have built strong ethics into their businesses. This  is especially important today, in an age where our economy was nearly destroyed by corporate greed and millions suffer as a result. It may be big firms that get all the press, but our country is built on small business; companies with less than 500 employees represent more than 95% of all American firms. We should be setting an example for everyone else, we should be the ones taking the driver’s seat right now and showing the mortgage lenders, the investment banks, the special interest groups and a certain oil company how things should be done. I might be an idealist, but I honestly believe that we can all make a difference.

Published by Erik Wolf under Branding, Random Thoughts, Small Business, Strategy