Learn the C.O.R.E. Four Principals That Boost Employee Happiness and Sales To sell your products, services or business for top dollar, embrace the "Culture, Operations, Relationships and Excellence" acronym.
By Mike Koenigs Edited by Bill Schulz
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
A company with a magnetizing culture not only brings in the best players but holds onto them. A healthy work environment with team members that are content, increases productivity while offering extra time off and increasing revenue. That means more income for a founder and higher price tags for a sale.
That's where professional office coach, Dino Watt, comes in.
Watt, a former client of mine who first came to prominence as a marriage counselor for entrepeneurs, has parlayed his interpersonal expertise into building company culture — which has resulted in legions of employees demanding their bosses hire him to fix what ails their teams.
Dino helps people be better at both their jobs and life.
"Working on culture is an income-producing opportunity," explains Watt. "This is true whether a business owner is investing in the culture to sell, preparing for a private transition of ownership, or developing the culture for overall well-being and profitability.
Employees experience a better quality of life, patients enjoy a better experience, and businesses, including their owners, experience an increased profit. One of Dino's first clients earned $500,000 more in his first year and worked over 50 days less!
To achieve this, Dino implements a system that focuses on the C.O.R.E Four.
Related: Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring a Seasoned Executive at Your ScaleUp
Culture
The right culture will help you attract the right people to build the best teams and scale. When team members are happy, they work harder and become ambassadors for their company. In time, business is more profitable, even when employees have more time off. A positive environment will help founders keep the best teams and reduce costly turnover.
Operations
Systems only run as well as the people operating them. Establish radical transparency practices while having the courage to fire your "C" and "D" players to ensure you have the highest-performing team members that align with your culture. Then find your A-players and make sure they align with the business vision, ideologies and culture!
Related: Stellar Customer Service Starts with the Hiring Process
Relationships and teams
No one wants to leave a place they love to work. For many, it is actually more important than how much money they make. If a team understands and believes in a company's core values, it will strive to succeed. Mentorship programs are an effective way to knit this together. Over time employees connect, improve, thrive, and deliver "excellent" results.
Excellence
It is a given that doing excellent work is a must for success, but building a lasting culture that instills and inspires excellence requires more. It must be built into the value system, the team-building processes and management in a positive and encouraging way.
Dino's business model is incredibly simple: He gets to know the founder personally, then assesses the team and environment. After gathering the data, Watt is able to suggest and help implement a value system and internal practices that bear the fruit and profit of good culture.
The C.O.R.E. Four are a "rainbow connection" of business, opportunity and good karma that help founders realize their team and business's full potential.
