Businesses have personalities, reputations, and character just as individuals do. So do departments, workgroups, and teams. And like people, your personality either attracts or repels friendship and support.

I once worked for a company that had a Dr. Jekyll - Mr. Hyde personality. Our pre-sales personality was rigid - lengthy contacts, too many formalities, and inflexible terms. Oddly, our post-sales personality was accommodating - fast service, willingness to appease, do-what-it-takes to make things right.

There are a lot of reasons this Dr. Jekyll - Mr. Hyde personality existed. Some were reasoned. Most were unnecessary.

We chose to be difficult to do business with: process, procedures, reports, check-n-balances, etc. None of them were written or enacted to benefit our customer. We built a process of becoming a new customer that favored us. We made things easier on ourselves. We eliminated our risk in business at the expense of making it harder to become a customer.

Here's the point of this post: You have choices to make in business, one of them is the definition of your personality. You earn your reputation, but you decide long before who you are and what you value. And your personality sets the tone for a relationship.

Choose your procedures, processes, and customer requirements carefully. Present a personality that positively defines your team, department, or company. It's one of the easiest ways to gain respect and earn success.