The Benefits of Having a WHY or a PURPOSE for Your Business

Here’s an important question for every business owner, executive and manager to consider…

?DO YOU THINK YOUR BUSINESS IS GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?

If you were at an event with some of the richest business people in the world, and the MC asked that question of everyone in the room, you might be surprised by the number of negative responses.

Surprised in the sense that by any commonly understood standard or metric, they would be entitled to shout from the rooftops that business is going great! How can they say otherwise?

Clearly, in their minds, something is missing. Something so substantial that it negates the trappings of success they currently enjoy.

Stephen R Covey touched on this in his top selling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. He wrote:

‘It’s incredibly easy…to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder

of success only to discover it’s leaning against the wrong wall.’

Obviously, no one wants to be leaning their ladder against the wrong wall. But how can you make sure it’s leaning against the right one?

This is where the benefits of having a WHY or a PURPOSE for your business kick in. Finding, articulating and living your WHY or PURPOSE ENSURES that your ladder is definitely and permanently against the RIGHT wall.

What is a WHY or PURPOSE?

This concept has been referred to in several ways by different proponents – life meaning, primary aim, noble cause. But these words all have the same meaning…

A belief in something bigger than yourself. An absolute conviction in an ideal that you’re passionate about.

In essence, this definition is a WAY OF THINKING. But having a WHY or PURPOSE is more than an intangible idea.

A WHY or PURPOSE can also be…

o??Articulated in a statement

o??And when it’s articulated in a statement, it has practical applications

o??And when those practical applications are demonstrated – through words and actions –

your WHY or PURPOSE will be highly appealing to your perfect customer.

In order to articulate you WHY or PURPOSE with words, you first have to discover it. This is a process that an experienced facilitator can help you with. Then when you’re writing your statement, it’s important to use words that describe you in an authentic way.

In simple terms, the practical applications are all about LIVING your WHY or PURPOSE – in what you say and what you do. When it comes to your business, that affects what you do in your business and how you do it.

When your perfect customer comes along and sees what you’re saying and doing, they’ll say to themselves: ‘That’s me. That’s who I am.’ Because they share personal beliefs and values with you, they’ll want to align with you and your brand.

What are the benefits of having a WHY or PURPOSE?

There are 4 key benefits for having a WHY or PURPOSE:

1.??????Inspire Your Customers

2.??????Engage Your Employees

3.??????Increase Loyalty

4.??????Improve Sales Revenue

Inspire Your Customers

There are two and only two ways to influence human behaviour…

MANIPULATE IT

or

INSPIRE IT

Marketers use manipulations all the time – things like price, features and benefits – to attract customers. And there’s nothing wrong at all with doing that. Manipulations are a perfectly legitimate sales strategy – a strategy that can work very well.

The problem comes when businesses RELY on manipulations and using them is the ONLY strategy they have. Why rely on transactional relationships when you can inspire people?

Customers are inspired when they see, like and feel a connection with your WHY or PURPOSE. Look at Apple and Harley Davidson for example. Their customers can show incredible loyalty – like getting a Harley tattoo or waiting in line for hours for a new Apple product.

The important thing to remember is that you don’t need to be an international powerhouse to inspire loyalty.

When your customers feel a connection with your WHY or PURPOSE, you can also build stronger, more reliable relationships that result in long-term repeat business and excellent referrals.

Engage Your Employees

Engaged employees are the BEST EMPLOYEES. Just like your ideal customers, your WHY or PURPOSE will inspire them and they’ll look to align themselves with you and your brand. They’ll come to work, not because they HAVE TO but because they WANT TO.

This sense of purpose you’ve evoked in them will lead to:

o??Increased Productivity

o??More Innovation

o??And Higher Employee Retention

ALL of which leads to more $$$ for you and your business!

Increase Loyalty

It’s a fact that engaged employees who support customer-centric business practices increase customer loyalty. When your employees have an emotional commitment to your organisation and its goals, they can become your greatest brand advocates.

They’ll become almost evangelical in their approach, preaching the upside of your products or service and being ultra-enthusiastic when dealing with the public.

Research conducted by a Hay Group study shows that engaged employees can help companies to increase revenue twice as much as companies with less enthusiastic engagement levels.

Because customers feel valued and appreciate being treated with empathy if they have an issue, they’ll continue to buy from you – and will tell their friends and family they should do the same.

Improve Sales Revenue

Professor and author Jim Stengel led a ten-year global study about the world’s 50 fastest growing brands. Previously Global Marketing Officer at Proctor and Gamble, he wanted to see how building deep relationships with customers affected financial growth.

His theory was:

‘I have always believed that great brands are built on improving the lives of the people they serve; I wanted to prove that maximum profit and high ideals aren’t incompatible but, in fact, inseparable,’?

He proved his theory right!

In his book GROW: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies, he spoke about his study.

He conducted research into what he called the Stengel 50, which had built deep relationships with customers based on a HIGH IDEAL (his word choice for WHY or PURPOSE).

He discovered that if you had invested with these companies over a ten-year period in the 2000s, it would have been 400% more profitable than an investment in the S&P 500.

How can I ensure my WHY or PURPOSE translates into these benefits?

Of course, all this information means nothing if you can’t translate it directly into benefits for YOU.

To ensure that you receive these benefits

and to

make certain your ladder to success is leaning against the right wall

there are two important initial steps…

1.??????Be crystal clear on what your why or purpose is

2.??????Write a concise and compelling why or purpose statement

Once you’ve done this, you’ll have a clear way forward to navigate through all the difficulties and stresses your business brings. You’ll have a clear sense of purpose, a constant feeling of confidence that you’re on the right track.

It can be a real struggle to find and write about your WHY or PURPOSE. So, it can be a daunting proposition to get started. But I can assure you that if you do get started on LIVING YOUR WHY OR PURPOSE, you’ll be VERY GLAD you did. Your only regret might be to ask yourself why you didn’t do it sooner.

If you found this post helpful, please share it with your connections.

Murray Barnett, aka THE WHY GUY, specialises in helping you find, articulate and live your WHY. Murray runs WHY Workshops for business owners, executives and managers who are tired of leaning their ladders of success against the wrong wall.