rDITIORIAL

What's the image of your business?

When I say McDonald's what comes to mind? Is it burgers, kids, convenience, fun or what? 'lYhatever your answer, the question creates a mind's eye picnre. Now ask the same question about you business from the viewpoint of your customer andBrospect.

Is the image of your business uniformly favorable? In 3oo many cases the customer's image is not the same as that of management and ownership. Often tbis disparity is glossed over, forgotten or just plain ignored. No one likes to think rhat his fim is less than OK.

But let's face it, do you honestly think your cmpmy rilks 100% in Oe following categories? Products, people, appearance, security, cleanliness, prici4g" gofessimalisnL helpfulness, credit, delivery, liyout - the list goes on and on. Marketing gurus bve to tnot out the saying that percep tion is reality in a customer's eyes. There's a lot of trutr in that and it carries a message for us all.

If your prices are really low, but your custoNners md prospects don't think so and do business elsewihere, the reality isn't important. The peroeptim is. It's a problem many independent

DAVID CUTLf,R editor-publisher

dealers have competing against the price claims of the large warehouse chains. Changing the customer's mind is no easy task. Or cheap, either.

Years ago Canadian tourist officials surveyed Americans to learn what we thought of Canada. They were horrified that we didn't think of Canada at all. No thoughts, no image. We wonder if perhaps the same holds true for your business. The Canadians, incidentally, have done a good job of solving their previous image problem through aggressive marketing, advertising and promotion.

If you sense you have a problem, a blind survey in your marketing area of crurcnt customers and prospects can help you discover if you need to take action. What answen you get will help you devise a plan to solve any deficiencies. Sometimes a complete operating revamp is in order, though often only selected aspects need a tune up. We'll hope it's the latter.

Gening a handle on a company's image can be slippery business. But in a world of perception is reality, it's a worthwhile exercise.