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Taking the High Road posted on Monday, 03 March 2008

Three ways to ensure your business practices ethical behavior

By Marc Chase

MyCreditGroup
Jokes abound about all types of professions and the unscrupulous practices by those within these industries. There is no shortage of lawyer, doctor or used car salesman gags, for example. I know this only too well as the owner of a credit consulting firm. And while these stories are often told in jest, there exists some underlining truth to them; that’s the damaging part. As a result, ethical business leaders operating in these industries must do more to counter the prevailing belief that everyone in their profession is some sort of shyster.

In these environments, CEOs can simply talk about ethical behavior, but ensure that practicing good ethics is engrained into the corporate culture. There must be no reason for a company’s customers and prospects to even question their integrity and get lumped in with all the others. Here are three ways that corporations can make this happen.

Put Employees First
Companies can’t expect their business to operate with strong ethical practices if they don’t hire people with high degrees of integrity. Many firms simply look at a person’s resume and determine if their past experiences and skill sets match the technical needs of the job requirements. Companies must go further by reviewing the intangibles of the candidate. The right employee will display care and concern for doing the right thing for their customers and their co-workers. The ideal candidate will also be able to tell the interviewer stories where they had to make a tough choice between doing something that was right versus what was easy. CEOs and managers must pay close attention to the job applicant’s answers; for they will indicate whether the individual display strong moral character.

Companies must also put their employees first in their business. While this appears contrary to the popular belief that the customers are the top priority, helping the staff understand that what they do is not only important, but also makes a difference to people will foster a sense of commitment and community within the organization to service the customer in the most ethical manner. Southwest Airlines is a great example of a profitable, highly reputable company that makes its employees the top priority.

Keep Your Operations Transparent
Anyone who’s ever received a bill and couldn’t figure out how the final number got tallied understands the need for companies to keep their operations transparent. Organizations should – and must – make it a policy to fully disclose how it conducts business, specifying to each customer what it will do for them, how it will do it, when the job will be done and how much it will charge. While this does not mean providing detailed, technical explanations, firms must make it a policy to help the customer understand its processes and fees.

What’s more, these disclosures should be presented – or at the very least be made available – in writing. If the company has done their job right, a customer will never have to ask what they did for the money they charge.

Show Them The Value
Customers who agree to spend their hard-earned dollars with a company do so with the assumption that the value they will get in return will be worth it. To this end, firms must be able to articulate what they brought to the table. This could be in the form of expertise, superior products or simply convenience of saving the customer time in having to do it themselves. Whatever the benefits, ethical firms can clearly state what value they deliver and not cloud the truth around “smoke and mirrors.”

Unfortunately, I see the latter conducted all too often by credit repair companies firms that claim that they can “magically” get a person’s credit score raised by as much as 35 points in return for their standard fee of several hundred dollars. In fact, most customers can easily increase their score by 50, 75 or even 100 points without spending a dime. Many firms will play on a consumer’s fear and lack of understanding of how their credit score is calculated. So instead of providing long term, permanent solutions to customers’ credit problems, these credit repair companies offer nothing more than high-priced, temporary gimmicks.

The Golden Rule Applied
It’s not enough to espouse the Golden Rule. Companies who intend to be around for any length of time must demonstrate to their customers that they operate within the highest ethical standards at every level. Firms that provide real value, keep operations transparent and staff a team of employees with high integrity will rise to the top of any industry; even as the popular jokes continue to prevail.

Marc Chase is founder and CEO of MyCreditGroup (www.mycreditgroup.com), an eight-year credit repair and consulting service firms that has helped more than 15,000 individuals to manage their debt and personal finances better. He can be reached at marc@mycreditgroup.com.

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