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Clinical Solutions Blog

Discover the Secret to Inspiring Employees for Rapid Growth

Posted by Rick Lau on Aug 19, 2015 10:08:00 AM

Walt_Disney

If you could take your health business from zero sales to millions in revenue would that be of interest to you?

Companies like Zappos have done it, and its all been driven primarily by repeat customers and word of mouth.

Did you get that?

This strategy doesn’t cost money…but the changes it can bring can be a true game changer.

You see, one of the reasons physiotherapy clinics, chiropractic clinics, and massage therapy clinics fail to grow is their lack of core values. When it comes to business growth, we’re told to focus on getting new patients, getting more doctor referrals, and selling products. But we’re not told about the importance of core values as a strategy to inspire employees and patients alike.

This is where companies like Zappos unlocked the door to a flow of continued business growth. Today I wanted to explore core values, what they are, why they are so important, and we’ll also look at some examples from Nurse Next Door and Whole Foods.  

What Are Core Values?

Tony Hsieh of Zappos says: “Our core values guide us in everything we do today”.

Core values have meaning. They are not descriptions of what you do or strategies and techniques you use. Core values underlie the work you do, including all your interactions, and help you focus on what strategies and techniques to employ.

I want to emphasize again that core values are NOT just descriptions; they UNDERLIE your whole company culture and have meaning, importance, and worth. Like Tony says above, your core values act as your guide and are a very powerful way to align your patients and employees to your overall company goals and mission.

“We developed a list of committable core values…not just values that end up being part of a meaningless plaque on the wall”. Tony Hsieh

This is the reason it’s so important to distinguish between an empty value description and a true core value that becomes an every day part of life in your business – that’s true company culture.

Essentially your core values are “a formalized definition of your culture”.

Why Are Core Values Important?

If you want to implement the impossible, you don’t want your team dragging their feet and constantly having to be TOLD to do things. You want your team to be highly self motivated and inspired to be part of your clinic and perform all the tasks there.

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible" Walt Disney

You want to employ the best staff for the job, staff that are committed and stay with you for years because it’s better for patients and costs you less in staff turnover.

You want staff who will happily pick up phone calls and turn patients into customers. You want staff who will do doctor marketing for you because they know it provides benefits to people. You want staff who always smile at patients because they are happy to see them. You want your physiotherapist and chiropractors to deliver great treatments because they care and believe in the company.

This is the stuff that truly gives your health business backbone and it’s all done through your core values. It’s these core values that help develop an AWESOME clinic culture. 

What Do Staff Really Want?

As a clinic owner you are probably hiring people between the age group of 15-35 years, this age group is known as millennials. In 2015, they became the largest generation in the workforce. If you want to tap into the millennial talent pool and keep them on your team, you have to adapt to their new modes of thinking.

When research was conducted with millennials, managers/owners thought MONEY was the most important thing to them.

BUT as it turns out the most important thing that millennials want is MEANINGFUL WORK!

They don’t just want a job, they want to be a part of something, feel challenged and aligned with your company, and believe in what you’re trying to do – TOGETHER!

The truth is that if you want to build a highly successful clinic for the future, employees need a MEANINGFUL place to work, and your core values can help bring that alive. 

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See my journey as I help clinic owners build kickass businesses #clinicaccelerator 
 

Read this article from Peter Diamandis and learn everything you need about milleniials - why they are changing the game, how to hire them, and how to keep them motivated.

The Benefits Of Developing Core Values For Clinic Supplies Canada

Here at Clinic Supplies Canada, about 2 years ago we took the time to develop core values. Just like Zappos, everything we do is now based on our core values.

We hire all our staff based on core values and train on skill. As a result of developing these core values we have highly motivated, happy employees who love their job. Because they love their job, our customer satisfaction is the highest it’s ever been. And on top of this, Clinic Supplies Canada is still seeing a 65% growth year after year.

I put all of these positive benefits down to developing core values – it really is worth the time you invest to develop them! 

Core Values Of Clinic Supplies Canada

Our core values are:

1. Create Magical Experiences 
We love people and our goal is to provide our clients with magical experiences that make them say “Wow!”.  
 
2. Think Forward
We are trendsetters. We are constantly challenging status quo, listening to our client’s feedback, and validating our assumptions to build the best solution for our clients.  
 
3. Make it Happen
We have the ultimate control of what we do. We are accountable to our peers, our clients, our organization and more importantly ourselves. Making an excuse is easy but making it happen is what gives our clients stunning value.  
 
4. Build a team we love 
We are a group of people who value personal growth and love to have fun. Encouraging each other to challenge the tasks that we love doing, and inspire each other to pursue our areas of strength.

More Core Value Examples

Let’s look at a few more examples of core values of other companies that are known to have amazing culture and awesome customer satisfaction. 

Example #1: Nurse Next Door 

CEO John DeHart says:

“Our culture is built on our values and we’ve perfected the art of bringing our core values alive in our company, and everything we do is driven around them. They are our non-negotiables, we live our core values to the fullest”.

Their core values are:

  1. Admire people
  2. WOW customer experience
  3. Find a better way
  4. Passionate about making a difference

Read more about Nurse Next Door’s core values here.

Example #2: Whole Foods

Whole Foods is a huge market leader in the quality food business. Here’s what they say:

“Our core values reflect what is truly important to us as an organization. These are not values that change from time to time, situation to situation or person to person, but rather they are the underpinning of our company culture”.

And their core values:

  1. We sell the highest quality natural and organic products available
  2. We satisfy, delight and nourish our customers
  3. We support team member excellence and happiness
  4. We create wealth through profits and growth
  5. We serve and support our local and global communities
  6. We practice and advance environmental stewardship
  7. We create ongoing win-win partnerships with our suppliers
  8. We promote the health of our stakeholders through healthy eating education

Read more about Whole Foods core values here.

Example #3: Zappos

We started out at the beginning of this article talking about Zappos because they have been one of the companies to lead the way with amazing company culture and customer satisfaction. If you recall, they went from almost no sales to more than $1 billion in sales – MOSTLY driven by repeat customers and word of mouth!

So here are Zappos’ core values:

  1. Deliver WOW Through Service
  2. Embrace and Drive Change
  3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
  4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
  5. Pursue Growth and Learning
  6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
  7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
  8. Do More With Less
  9. Be Passionate and Determined
  10. Be Humble

Read more about Zappos core values here.

As you can see, each business has core values that fit the aims of their company in creating a culture that has meaning, and at the same time defines and drives their brand.

Your core values can be 3-10 meaningful things that will help you do the same. One thing that all of these businesses emphasize is the importance of having core values that come to life in your company and truly reflect and underpin who you are as a business and brand.

Now that we know how important core values are, the next step is to create your own core values, so let’s create them together.

In my next article I am going to take you through 10 easy steps to developing core values, so that you can align your employees to your growth plans and reach for massive success and customer satisfaction like Zappos! 

CLICK HERE to subscribe so you don’t miss the next article in this series.

 

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