Goodwill: Important Element of Intellectual Capital

Business Tip: Protecting the Goodwill of Your Business

Goodwill is a Greater Value than All Your Assets
Combined

What is the goodwill of a business?

The goodwill of a business is the value of a business as a result
of patronage, reputation, and service beyond its tangible assets.
Goodwill is something that is not built up overnight. Rather, it
is something that is founded on the very vision, mission, and
objectives of the business enterprise. Though the value of
goodwill cannot be measured, it is nevertheless seen and evident
in the way the company or business deals with other companies and
businesses and in how they treat clients and customers. Since
goodwill is rooted in the very foundation upon which the business
enterprise is built, if properly used, it can give not only a
good image to all those connected with the business enterprise,
but it can also contribute well to the benefit of society
through the type of industry the business enterprise operates.

Concrete applications of goodwill in a business

The following is just a few examples of how you can practice
goodwill in your business industry:

• Going the extra mile for the client or customer
• Service with a smile
• Returning money when customers are accidentally
  overcharged
• Giving back the extra money the customers paid
  unknowingly
• Responding 'as soon as possible' - the ASAP principle
• Giving the business associate or the client and customer
  the benefit of the doubt
• Remembering clients and business associates during
  Christmas and during their birthdays - an occasional greeting
  card is 'pure gold' to them
• Attending well to the customer or client - this fills their
  need to feel important
• Making a formal apology when a business error has been
  committed
• Always using polite and formal language in business
  communications
• Keeping one's word to the client or business associate
• Keeping faithful to the small details of servicing the
  customer and client

Goodwill is like the Christian faith inculturated in
the business

Goodwill is like the Christian faith inculturated in the
business enterprise. By inculturation, this means that the
values and principles associated with the Christian faith are
integrated into the very system of the business enterprise:
in its management systems, its operations in sales and
production, its management-employee relationship structure,
and in the many other systems and structures of the company
or business enterprise. There are certain elements that
seem to conflict with Christian principles such as the
reality of stiff competition in business. However, if you
really study this reality, it can still be 'Christianized'
and be made to be a part of the business enterprise's
goodwill. If the focus of competing in business is to be
the best that the enterprise can be without destroying the
competition, then that is goodwill. And if, as a result
of day to day business operations, the competition falls and
fails - when a business makes a gesture to the competition
that encourages them to get 'back into the game', and to be
the best that they can be again, then the goodwill that will
be produced for your competitor is what will make the
company or business you are managing solidly rooted in the
values of its business industry.