| Every business regardless of size needs a "Business | | | | enough customers to fulfill your business dreams for |
| Image Manual" to protect their band. Even the | | | | future years. |
| smallest companies with only a few employees is well | | | | IMAGE |
| served when there is a business image manual in | | | | I. ATTIRE |
| place. For 15 years I ran a small business, which I | | | | A. Company Shirts |
| eventually franchised and later expanded to 23-states | | | | B. Shorts |
| and 4 countries. What I had learned after franchising | | | | C. Hats |
| is that; I should have written my image manual | | | | D. Grooming |
| 10-years prior. At first my business was just me | | | | E. Managers |
| alone; like most small businesses, but then due to my | | | | F. Employees |
| hard work and customer service, I had to expand to | | | | G Independents |
| meet demand. Each time I added people to the | | | | II. SPEECH |
| team, I seemed to be rehashing over and over again | | | | A. Sales Tapes |
| my theories on business image. Often I would have | | | | B. Positive, Confidence |
| to harp on the issue with part time employees or | | | | C. Smile-Caring, Not Phony |
| even summer help. What I needed was a manual. | | | | D. No-No's (Politics, Religion, Racial) |
| However, being a head strong entrepreneur in those | | | | III. TRUCK |
| days, I like many entrepreneurs of small businesses | | | | A. Cleanliness |
| said; "What do I need a bunch of manuals or even a | | | | B. Rentals |
| business plan for that matter?" After all most of us | | | | C. Magnetics |
| know our businesses very well and we do not have | | | | D. Signage |
| to write it down. We just know thru intuition what | | | | E. Color Codes |
| will work and why and surprisingly we end up making | | | | F. Tires |
| few mistakes, but when we do they are usually quite | | | | IV. EQUIPMENT |
| large and costly lessons. | | | | A. Stainless Steel |
| Not having a Business Image Manual can be such a | | | | B. Paint, Touch Ups |
| problematic mistake, one, which trust me you do not | | | | C. Lights |
| want to make or need to for that matter. Franchising | | | | D. Vacuum Cleaner |
| later taught me how important it was to have the | | | | E. Extractor |
| image of my companies under a tight reign and as | | | | F. Noise |
| the company grew larger and larger, I was happy to | | | | V. TRUCK BED |
| have learned that lesson, I just wish I had not | | | | A. Diamond Plate |
| learned it the hard way. Now mind you I am not in | | | | B. Boxes |
| the same industry as you are, in fact my business is | | | | C. Trash |
| not like other businesses at all. It may in fact be quite | | | | D. Bed Area |
| dissimilar to your business model, but this outline | | | | VI. PAGER |
| below will help you design your own "Business Image | | | | A. Vibrate Mode |
| Manual." I recommend you start be re-writing this | | | | B. Wear It |
| outline to most mirror your business or company and | | | | C. Etc. |
| then write two-paragraphs for each item. It will come | | | | VII. MANAGER RESPONSIBILITIES |
| to just over ten pages and from there you can | | | | A. Customer Contact |
| elaborate further. In the end you will end up with a | | | | B. Mannerism |
| 20-30 page Business Image Manual, which will provide | | | | C. |
| you with years of enhanced brand recognition and | | | | |