I like to think of business ethics as what guides how you behave when no one is watching. It’s your moral code.
Following a strong ethical code in business is what allows me to sleep well at night and go to the grocery store and not be worried about meeting someone I have wronged. It’s part of what has made my business last almost 15 years in a small town.
Here are a few of the things that we do at Kona Impact that are part of our ethical code.
- Even if our clients might not notice a flaw in one of our products, if we know it’s there, it needs to be fixed prior to hand off to the client.
- 100% honesty is our goal in communicating with clients, even if it means it can create uncomfortable moments.
- We own mistakes. If it’s our mistake, we own it. We admit fault. We fix the problem.
- Never post fake reviews or spread misinformation. We have one competitor in town who has had his employees post fake negative reviews about us online. Many of his Google reviews are from his employees and his wife. We feel this is dishonest, underhanded, and it shows a poor sense of business ethics. Despite our frustration, we never retaliate.
- Never, ever, overbill for time. We use time tracking software on all projects and are very strict about ensuring that clients never get charged for services we did not provide. If there is any doubt, we always bias invoices in favor of our clients.
- Offer the best solutions, even if they make us less money, for our customers. We hate wasting money, ours, or our clients’.
- Offer other providers, even if means we won’t get the job if it is something we are not highly-qualified to do. Our goal is to focus on the long-term value of the customer and the trust we will build instead of the immediate profit.
- Be kind to the earth. Refuse. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
- Keep customers’ information confidential.
- Always try to bring people and businesses up through positivity and good advice. Bringing people down through trash talk and negativity is not what we want to be known for.