We live in a consumer and profit driven world, but that doesn’t mean the bottom line always has to be reduced to a number. The best businesses, and what we strive to be, are those that truly desire to improve the lives of the people and communities they serve. It’s a win-win situation, by providing the best service your business will thrive and the consumer is getting an exceptional product/service. Here are three actionable tips on how to be a community minded business.

1. Look internally- Review your businesses mission statement and make sure that you have employees that accurately represent who you are. There’s a huge difference between someone who’s doing a job and a person that believes in what they do and wants to make a difference. Ideally you want every customer or patient to walk away feeling better and happier about themselves. Disney is a great example of this with their “never say no” attitude. If you ask when the park closes they’ll respond, “we stay open until 10”. Making sure that your a bright spot in a person’s day is a Hallmark of being community minded. The message is that you care about more than the bottom line.

2. Get Involved- Depending on the size of your business and the area you serve this can look very different and it also doesn’t need to require huge expenditures of money or scholarship programs. Involvement can be as simple as making it a point to support local business. Use local suppliers if applicable, frequent local coffee shops and lunch spots, have your team run or walk in community races, and put up a booth at local events where it’s applicable.

3. Internally review your product and service- Every quarter make it a point to ask yourself if your serving the needs of your customer in the best way. Can you reduce costs and pass those on, can you provide faster service or more access? For example, we aim to provide the highest quality fastest results for our patients Recently, we switched to a first-rate radiology group that utilizes several stages of quality assurance before the radiologist reviews any images. They were also able to significantly decrease the time in which a report is ready and automatically sends to the ordering physician.