IE
I’ve been reading some of the press coverage over the past couple of weeks around the proposed changes to the partnership structure at John Lewis and the real commercial risks that analysts see to that business if its values come under threat; and it was a useful reminder of just how much values matter.
Just because you can’t measure things like trust and integrity within a business, it doesn’t mean that they don’t still have immense value – even more so, I would argue, when times are tough.
I’ve worked at Mila for 42 years, and I’ve been Managing Director for 22 of those, so it’s fair to say that I’ve helped to shape the culture and values of this business. I’m proud to say that, as a team, we’ve built a deserved reputation for innovation, quality and service, but also, I would hope, for being good people to do business with.
Certainly, we put customer relationships at the heart of everything we do, and we actively seek to build and strengthen those at every touchpoint – from sales and marketing, to technical, product development, testing, finance, and operations.
It’s not just that we want our customers to like us – that on its own doesn’t add a huge amount to the bottom line. It’s that they have to trust us to be honest in our dealings with them, and act in their best interests and not just our own – because, when it comes to sales, that certainly does make a difference to our performance.
When I look at the long-term supply agreements we have in place with some of the biggest names in our sector, I know that the people in those businesses put their faith in Mila and our team year after year because we have proven that we will always act with integrity.
It might be tempting to cut back on service and strip away the niceties when you’re chasing sales and margins are under pressure, but our experience shows that sticking to your values and always focusing on delivering an outstanding customer experience means new sales opportunities will come your way. As the furore at John Lewis demonstrates, if you compromise your values then there’s a very real risk that your customers will punish you.
Richard
