Core Values: Know Who You Are

A few years back, I was leading a discussion at an MSP owners peer group about differentiating your company in the eyes of your prospects. I made the comment that your core values can really differentiate who you are as a company. One of the owners immediately challenged me and said that core values are not a differentiator because most companies say the same things, and that they are just a piece of marketing fluff that goes on a flyer or a handout or hangs on the wall. He said nobody ever really reads them, and nothing works any differently than if they didn’t exist.

I paused and thought about what he had said. I then went around the room and asked each business owner to share their core values. Most had to look them up, a few could paraphrase two or three, if they were lucky. Most of them included things like…

• Integrity

• Trust

• Respect

• Loyalty

• Teamwork

• Fun

To the grumpy owner’s point, most of the core values shared in the room that day lacked originality or anything truly unique to their company. Core values can’t be cut and pasted. The bullet points above are what Patrick Lencioni describes as “Permission to Play” values in his book The Advantage. “They are important, but they are not what makes you different.”

Furthermore, the fact that the owners of these companies could not immediately list their core values showed how many companies don’t appreciate how they can be their secret weapon. They can be the glue that bonds their team, propels them to action, and gives them a compass when making critical decisions. Core values can define the experience clients will have when interacting with their firm.

Core Values Explain Who You Actually Are

But none of these things can happen if nobody knows what those core values are, or if they aren’t really true.

To be a differentiator, a business’s core values need to go beyond permission to play. They need to express to people how their experience with your company will differ from the ones they’ve dealt with in the past.

You have to reinforce those values by making sure you hire, evaluate, and fire team members based on alignment with them. That happens by building them into your processes and systems. You reinforce them with your prospects and clients by telling them stories of how your team lives out those values and how you have dealt with experiences that have challenged them.

What are Your Stories?

A simple litmus test we use when working with MSPs to uncover their core values is to ask, “Can you tell me a story about when someone asked you to violate that value, and how you dealt with it?”

Some of the best companies out there have distilled their core values down to mission statements that are less than 10 words. You don’t have to do that—but if you can, it’s powerful!

A few of Zappos’ core values are “Deliver WOW through service,” “Create fun and a little weirdness,” and “Embrace and drive change.” These have helped Zappos create a unique and memorable customer experience, which has set them apart from their competitors.

Whole Foods Market’s core values can be boiled down to “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet.” These values reflect the company’s commitment to sustainability, health, and social responsibility. This has helped them attract customers who are looking for a more ethical shopping experience that aligns with their worldview—even if doing so costs a little more money.

As of April 2023, Starbucks’ mission statement is…

Our mission

with every cup,

with every conversation,

with every community—

we nurture the limitless possibilities of human connection

This reflects their commitment to providing a welcoming, cozy, inclusive environment for their customers and employees. This has helped them build a strong customer base and a positive work culture.

Finding Love Connections

Back to your inventory. You will find that your core values align well with those of your best clients. The ones who ultimately belong in your pumpkin patch are the ones who care about the same things you do.

If you value your employees like family, but a client treats their employees like garbage, they don’t fit. Chop that rotten pumpkin’s stem. If you value investing in your local community as a business, your best clients will feel the same. They’ll go do the Habitat for Humanity project with you.

If all they care about is stacking up more money and not about who gets stepped on in the process, the relationship will always be skin-deep. Eventually they’ll probably step on you too.

As MSPs consider clients and prospects, they should be thinking beyond whether their money is green. Is a healthy relationship possible and likely? Will they give the MSP a fair shot to earn their trust? You should attempt to discern what these people are really about. Do their core values line up with yours? If not, by taking them on, you may be missing out on the chance to bring on a different client with much better answers to those questions.

Opportunity Cost is Real

The concept of opportunity cost is very real. Your resources are finite. If you spend your time and attention on clients who aren’t worth it, then that time and attention will still have been spent. You don’t get it back. It just wasn’t spent on something likely to have a solid, long-term return on investment. Time and energy are capital, and you and your company only have so much of that to spend. So invest wisely.

Adapted from Chapter 6 of The Pumpkin Plan for Managed Service Providers by Dave Cava and Shawn P. Walsh.