Entrepreneur.com recently published a story titled, “Would You Get a Tattoo of Your Favorite Franchise’s Logo?”
The author, Nina Zipkin, was referring to Anytime Fitness, one of the few franchises that has managed to have its logo tattooed on at least 1,400 members, franchisees and employees around the world.
Why do people love Anytime Fitness so much that they’re willing to tattoo the company’s logo onto their bodies for life? Well, as Entrepreneur highlights, Anytime Fitness’ focus on its culture, clients, employees and franchisees are just a few keys to its success.
Basically, the key word here is culture. Anytime Fitness has built and sustained its business around a great culture that’s top priorities are family, health, wealth and safety, in addition to employee training and retention. And members, franchisees and staff have bought in.
So how can you build a company culture that people love so much, they’re willing to get a tattoo that represents it? Well, establishing a strong vision and set of core values is a good place to start.
According to Gino Wickman, the author of “Traction: Get a Grip On Your Business,” it’s imperative that businesses know their vision and core values.
Don’t know what your vision is? According to Wickman, answering these eight questions can help you figure it out:
- What are your core values?
- What is your core focus?
- What is your 10-year target?
- What is your marketing strategy?
- What is your three-year picture?
- What is your one-year plan?
- What are your quarterly Rocks (important priorities for the next 90 days)?
- What are your issues?
At the very top of the list are core values. Therefore, if you don’t know what your core values are, or you do but your employees don’t, you may want to start there.
As Wickman explains, core values are a small set of three to seven vital guiding principles for your company. To help narrow them down, Wickman suggests your leadership team, “picks three people who, if you could clone them, would lead you to market domination.”
Wickman explained, “Go over the names and list the characteristics that those people embody. What are the qualities they exemplify? What do they do that puts them on the list? … Your organization’s core values are somewhere in that long list you’ve just created.”
According to Wickman, the process could take a couple hours to knock out your core values, but in the long run the time spent is worth it.
After all, if you have a company culture that staff and members are completely bought-in to, your company could be the next one highlighted by Entrepreneur for having fans around the world with tattoos of your logo.
Rachel Zabonick is the assistant editor for Club Solutions Magazine. She can be reached at rachel@clubsolutionsmagazine.com. Reach out to her about exciting events or programs your club has implemented, or to share the amazing accomplishments of a member.
