Can what people say about you make a
difference in the amount of money you get

for your business when
you exit? You bet it can.

Your brand reputation has a huge
impact on your business valuation.

We're going to tell you today how you
can maximize the value of your business

through enhancing your brand reputation.

You've got to join us for this
episode of the Inside BSS Show. Hey,

now I'm Dave Lorenzo. I'm
the godfather of growth,

and I'm here with my partner Nicki G.
Hey, Nico. Nicola, how are you today?

Hi, Dave. I am great. How are you?

I am absolutely fantastic. So Nicola,

we're talking about brand
reputation and how brand reputation

impacts the value of your business,

whether you are looking to borrow
money or you're looking to exit,

and we're going to give people five
things they can focus on to enhance their

brand reputation. This
isn't an all inclusive list,

but it's a great place to start. So why
don't you kick us off with number one?

Absolutely. So what people are saying
about your business certainly matters.

Think about customers,

think about employees that will
have an impact on your business,

especially if they're saying
things that are negative about it.

So let me start off with number one
for us, which is online reviews.

It is very important for you to pay
attention to those online reviews.

There is a lot of good
information in them.

You want to make sure that you've got
someone from the company who is going to

be responsible for identifying
everywhere you may have online reviews,

and also taking time
to review the comments.

You should be looking out for negative
comments that you need to respond to.

Positive comments are great, but
don't ignore the negative ones.

It's really important
to take a look at those,

hear what customers or employees may
be saying. Employees, for example,

could be posting on Glassdoor. Your
customers may be leaving reviews on Google

or yo,

you want to make sure that you identify
the sources and listen to those and

where they're negative, take the
time to address them. But be careful.

Do not respond in a way that's negative.

Never attack someone even if
it is an unfair criticism of

something about the company.

You want to let people see that you
care about the comments that you're

receiving and you're able to address
them in a way that is more objective,

acknowledge the way the person felt and
respond in a way that is objective and

paints the company in a good light.

That will be what's left after
the end of that criticism.

And if it's something that
wasn't good about the company,

this is your chance to overcome that
and make sure that you leave a positive

note there about the company.
And what people will remember is, look,

this company cared enough to respond
and to put a statement there that shows

that this is a company that is concerned
about its brand new reputation,

concerned about its customers,
concerned about its employees.

A great way to respond to a negative
comment or criticism about your

company and an online review is to
say, I'm sorry that that happened.

That is not indicative of the way that
we conduct business at this company.

And please provide us with your contact
information so that we may reach out to

you. And after that,

be sure to reach out to that person to
make sure that you can work through what

the comment was so they're not
left with a negative impression.

What do you think, Dave?

I love it. Yeah, that's fantastic.
You always want to respond.

Every negative comment,
whether you like it or not,

you always want to respond in
exactly the way Nicola outlined.

And here's the reason why. Yes,

you are responding to try
and reach out to that client,

to that customer and make
things right for them,

but you're also responding to everyone
else who's looking and reading the

comment. Even if people read the comment
three years later, you want to say,

I'm really sorry that happened to you.

This is not indicative of the way
we do business at this company.

Send us your contact information so
that we can discuss this further and see

what we can do to make it
right. When people read that,

they're like, well, everybody has
a bad day. Maybe this happened.

They serve thousands of customers,

they're bound to have one or two that
have a bad experience. At least the

company is trying to fix it.

That's what people who read those comments
are going to think when they see 'em.

If you don't respond or you
respond negatively or you
respond defensively or if

you attack the person
that wrote the comment,

you're displaying to the entire
world that you don't know how to

handle when things go wrong
in your business. People
expect things to go wrong.

People are okay with companies getting
a few negative reviews here and there,

and they look at the responses to gauge
whether the company handles those things

fairly and effectively. Hey, Nicki G,

did you know you can also get
our show as an audio podcast?

Of course, I know you can get the
show as an audio podcast. I'm on it,

but does our audience.

I don't know. So those of you
who are watching on YouTube,

you can find us wherever
you get your podcast.

Just search up the Inside bss show
with the Godfather and Nicki G and

you'll find us right there.

Click the follow button so that
you never miss a show. Now,

there's a couple of reasons why you're
going to want to do that. Nicki G,

tell 'em what the first reason is.

You get to ask us questions
that is exclusive to our podcast

listeners.

Yeah, we only answer listener questions
on the audio version of the podcast.

We don't do it on video,

so if you want to hear what everyone's
thinking or if you want to ask us a

question, you got to download the
audio podcast. The second reason,

and my favorite reason is
because you can take us with you.

You can have a little Nicki g in your
pocket while you're working out in the

gym, washing the dishes
or walking the dog.

I love me some Nicki g in my
pocket when I'm walking the dogs.

I don't know about you Nicola, but
that's one of my favorite things to do.

Absolutely. Take us with you.

After you watch this
episode here on YouTube.

Go to wherever you get your podcast,

click the follow button so we can go with
you on your journey and you can ask us

questions. We will see you
or more like hear you there.

The second element of brand reputation,

the second thing we like to do to help
business owners enhance their brand

reputation is encourage
them to get testimonials.

Letters of recommendation,

whether the testimonials are on
video or they're just little things

people have written down,

they make such a big impact
because few people collect and

post testimonials on their website.

Few people share the letters
of recommendation they receive.

Now you're thinking to yourself,
Dave, I've got a $30 million business.

I actually had a C E O say this to me,
Dave. I got a $30 million business.

I don't have time to collect testimonials
and they're not going to have an

impact. My customers are so sophisticated,
they're not looking at testimonials.

And I said to him, Hey, Mr.
Jones, I'm changing his name,

obviously Mr. Jones. Here's
what I want you to do.

I want you to get a couple of testimonials
from your clients and I want you to

show them to other clients and ask them
what they think and ask them if they

look at testimonials or reviews before
they make purchases. You know what?

The more sophisticated
the purchase process,

the more impactful testimonials
or letters of recommendation are

because it is more of a rational
decision-making process than an emotional

decision making process. So anytime
you have a sophisticated process,

recommendations and testimonials
are always going to make sense.

I'll tell you a story.
When I was at Gallup,

we worked in the retail space
and we did a lot of business.

My team did a lot of business in the
retail space. We were going after a top

women's wear retailer.

And the way that I closed the deal
was walking into the pitch with their

top competitors chief
human resource officer.

The person who was the chief
human resource officer from
their competitor opened

my pitch to that company and she said,

I would not be the chief
human resource officer of,

and she said the name
of her company today,

if I didn't work with Dave
Lorenzo and his team at Gallup,

here are the five things they've done
to personally help me advance my career.

And if you have any sense in your
head, she's a very, very direct person.

If you have any sense in your head,

you will hire these people now
while you can still get them,

before they are too busy to work with
you. And that's how she closed her time.

She did a whole presentation,

15 minutes on the value we provided
to her personally and to her company.

That testimonial closed
a $5 million deal for me

in a very sophisticated
long sales cycle process.

So if you don't think testimonials or
letters of recommendation can make a

difference, they absolutely can. When
you are looking to sell your business,

whether it's five years
down the road or tomorrow,

you're going to have a portfolio of
letters of recommendation and testimonials

from people who are
luminaries in your industry,

people who are pillars of the community,

people who are top notch
buyers of services that you

provide,

and you're going to share those with
prospective buyers or with brokers or with

investment bankers, private equity funds,

the people who are managing those deals.

They actually look at these letters of
recommendation to see the people and the

companies that are recommending you as
part of their due diligence process.

So the best time to collect testimonials.
Nicole loves it when I say this.

The best time to collect testimonials
was the day you started your business.

The second best time, Nicki G,
what's the second best time? The.

Second best time is today.

Absolutely. We've been doing this
together a while, haven't we? Nicki G,

tell 'em what number three is.

So hold on. So let me pick up on that
for just a minute. So on testimonials,

they're a powerful
resource for your business.

Do not underestimate the power of them.

You can say all the great
things about your business,

but it will not come across as
powerful as someone else saying them.

I've seen these used so effectively
from an existing client to

go win new business because it's like
having a completely objective source.

Say, this company is great.

It has a different impact
from a psychological
standpoint on the person who's

receiving it. And then also, think
about this. In your exit strategy,

you have a portfolio of
testimonials from objective

viewpoints saying this company
is excellent. It really,

really will help your brand
reputation today. And in the long.

Run, you can't beat it. You can't beat
it. Tell 'em what number three is.

Point number three is the quantitative
measurement of your brand reputation.

Dave, tell everyone what that means.

So Nicola, this is where I lived and
breathed for six whole years of my life.

You can actually measure the impact that
your brand has on the people that you

work with using something
called Net Promoter Score.

It's a one question survey that is
really easy to put out in the field.

You can do it with SurveyMonkey or you
can hire a company like Qualtrics or JD

Power or Gallup to do it for you.

And the net promoter score question is
how likely are you to recommend and then

insert the name of the business there.
How likely are you to recommend X, Y,

Z company? And it's a five point
scale, it's a Likert scale,

it's a five point scale, and five means
you would absolutely recommend it.

One means you would
never, ever recommend it.

And somewhere in between
means somewhere in between.

This is a quantitative measurement of
the power of your brand because if you

are not willing to recommend
the brand to somebody else,

you probably don't think very highly
of it. Now you can do additional

work to look at the different
elements of the brand. So for example,

in the hospitality industry,

we measured the elements that impact
the person's first impression.

So we took every step of the first
five minutes of someone's stay.

Were you greeted when you
pulled up in front of the hotel?

Did someone hold the door open for you?

Did the desk clerk say hello to you when
you were approaching the front desk?

Did the desk clerk thank you for staying
at the hotel when he or she handed you

the key?

Did the desk clerk fill you in
on all the features of the hotel?

All of these things can be
measured as elements that are

drivers of brand value, but you
only need to do that one question,

that net promoter score question.
Why would you want to do that?

If you think you're providing
outstanding service to your clients,

to your customers, you want to do
that survey at least once a year,

maybe once a month,

depending on how frequently you have
the budget to do it. And here's the

reason why.

If your scores are high and they're
done by an independent research

outfit like a Gallup or a
JD Power or a Qualtrics,

that proves to the person who may buy
your business in the future that you have

a really high brand reputation.
However, the problem comes in,

if you're doing the surveys
and the scores are bad,

that could dinging your reputation. Now,

if the scores are bad and you have the
opportunity to improve them and you bring

in a consultant like I used to do
to help you improve those scores,

and you can demonstrate
an improvement over time,

that will help you enhance
the reputation of your brand.

So if you can afford it,
surveying your clients,

surveying your customers with at least
that one net promoter score question can

absolutely help enhance your brand
reputation and increase the value of

your business at the
time of a sale. Nicki G,

if you've got something to add
about quantitative brand analysis,

please jump in here.

No, I love data. I can't resist.

So I work with a lot of data and the best
way to support your position on brand

reputation is to have that raw
data that is actual proof that

you have a great reputation
in the marketplace.

So I love that when you start layering
that with some of the other things we've

spoken about, customer feedback,

the actual surveys that demonstrate
the data behind those responses,

it's really going to help make that
brand powerful and solidify it for

those who are going to be looking at
it later on when it's time to exit.

Alright,

Nicki G number four is
having a PR strategy for when

things go wrong.

Manage your brand reputation with a
PR strategy for when things go wrong.

You're a lawyer, you deal with
things that go wrong all the time.

What should you do from a PR perspective
and why is it important to have a

process in place for when things go wrong?

Yes, I do deal with this often,

and it is very important to have
a process in place because it can

impact your brand reputation. So first,

you want to make sure that you are as
transparent as you can be about the

issue. When something goes wrong,
do not try to hide from it.

If you try to hide from it, then it is
going to come through in your message,

especially if it's to the public.

So be thoughtful about being transparent
as much as you can to the extent you

are not creating exposure for the company.

So always remember that you want to
make sure you're not what you are saying

cannot create more problems for you.

Always good to be talking to a lawyer
that you have who can work through a PR

crisis with you in addition to a PR firm
if you are large enough that you need

that extra help, it's
always good to do that,

especially if this is a major issue
for the company. You also want to make

sure that if you're wrong, just own it.

Do not try to hide from it.

We've seen a lot of examples
in the last few years,

especially where there were these major
marketing campaigns by companies that

really fell flat and they
had to make a decision.

I remember specifically there were
ones in the areas of diversity, equity,

inclusion, the message, it fell flat.

They got the complete wrong message out
to the public and they had to make a

call. Do we just own this and say, you
know what, we were wrong. We own that.

This is not who we are as a company and
we are going to move forward from that.

Or do you try to massage the message
and go a different route with

it? That doesn't go well,

and we've seen that because then
the company had to keep coming back,

making statements.

You don't want to be in a position where
you have to keep correcting what you've

said, do the right thing from the get go,

provide a transparent message,
be clear about it, own it,

and make sure that you're able to
focus on how can I move forward in the

public's eye internally of
the organization if I have
done damage there too by

what has happened.

Oh, it's a great job. I think
you said it exactly perfectly.

Even if you can't afford a public
relations agency all the time,

full-time, if there's a crisis,

bring in a crisis PR
professional because the way you

communicate and how early you communicate
could make all the difference in the

world. We could do a whole show on this,

but we need to move on to point number
five and point number five is if you

really want to manage your brand
reputation and put yourself in the best

position for a sale,

you need to make sure you are
taking a high profile in your

industry and your brand has a high
profile in your industry and you receive

some sort of industry specific
recognition. Now, Nicola,

I'm not talking about super
lawyers that scam Lama dinging Don.

I hate that stupid thing. No,

I'm talking about you being the president
of the International Society of Widget

Manufacturers or you being
voted person of the year

for the International Society of
Crankshaft Providers. That type of

recognition is incredibly valuable
because it highlights you and

your brands to the people who
could potentially purchase your

company. So how do you get
this type of recognition?

How do you make sure you're
promoting your brand to these people?

Join industry associations,

give back to your industry and as
quickly as you can get on a committee

and ascend up through the ranks of
that industry association until you

reach at least a director level
where you're exposed to the

best of the industry.

Because if you want options for
selling your business down the

road,

those are going to be people who are
going to provide you with some really good

options.

You may even want to do strategic alliance
partnerships with them to get ready

for that in the future. The way to do
it is to get that industry recognition,

get it as soon as you can and maintain
it over time. Nicki G, your thoughts?

Yes, people need to know who you are,

especially folks who can be strategic
partners for you or even competitors.

They can benefit you a lot when it comes
time to exit because they know who you

are. They likely want to
purchase your company.

So be thoughtful about making sure that
you're making those relationships even

with competitors.

They know who you are and that's going
to help benefit you in the long run,

especially when it's time
to consider your exit.

I love it. This is the Inside BSS
show. My name is Dave Lorenzo.

I'm the godfather of growth, and
you are. Who are you? You are.

I am Nicki G.

We'll see you back here again tomorrow,
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