Following a van belonging to a local double-glazing installation company prompted me to cover this topic.

The text on the back of the van claimed proudly “Windows of Quality”. On a clean, well kept van this would have looked great. On a grubby vehicle bearing dozens of battle scars and showing all the signs of neglect that jobbing builders have made in to an art form then this was less than confidence inspiring. Especially when I see other, smaller, businesses running smarter vehicles – they might be older and more used than my double-glazing miscreant but they are better kept.

Alignment is not about bullying the bank manager into funding a fleet of new vans! Alignment is about making sure that all those brand values and other proposition elements that we work so hard to present to the market are replicated throughout our businesses. If we claim anything, then we must make sure that everything we are seen to do helps to justify that claim.

If our business values are about quality and craft, then all our vehicles and our people have to adhere to the values by appearing to be well maintained.

This means that when we are writing that slick one-line promotional statement for our web-site or for an advertisement (or to be sign written on a van) we must not deal with this in isolation – we have to make sure that it is consistent with our overall plan and with the way we manage our business.

Some examples:

• Web designers should have exemplary sites that work as a business tool;

• Accountants will never be found out missing the date for their VAT return;

• IT experts have their back-ups and virus protection well organised.

Simple steps to take:

• Write the plan first.

• Make sure that everybody is involved in creating the detail and in the implementation

• When you write that tag-line, make sure that it is covered in the core of your plan.

This was a guest post by Paul Fileman of SPS who are a national team of proven senior management professionals, passionate about working to help businesses achieve their next level of development and performance. Whether they are facing market changes, financial problems, people/skills issues, or are preparing a major project, they offer dedicated support from a multi-disciplined team of experts.

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