SPARK: Ratings

Over the last week we talked about the five elements of SPARK and how they relate to businesses. The five criteria are…

Story
Product or Service
Atmosphere
Routine
Key Values

It will be pretty easy to set up a 5 x 5 grid to rate businesses on a 1 to 5 scale on each of the five areas. This will give us a way to average out a score and publish a rating for a business. The ratings will be as follows

None
Poor
Average
Very Good
Excellent

Lets look at an imaginary business and see how we would score it.

Wiley Widget company has the following

Story: The story of Wiley Widgets is a short one.
They are basically a copy-cat organization without a
creation story or marketing strategy. The average
customer doesn’t know much about them. The address
of the company is not listed on the web site.
Rating: 2 (Poor)
Product: The Wiley Widget is a cheap copy of a
name brand product. Product quality is average
with more defects than the name brand.
Rating: 3 (Average)
Atmosphere: The product comes in a cheap white
box with generic lettering. The web page consists
of a very generic page with simple order form.
Rating: 2 (Poor)
Routine: The ordering routine of the company is
simple but does not have any bells and whistles.
You go to the website and select size, color and
quantity. The product is shipped by UPS.
Rating: 3 (Average)
Key Values: The key take away from Wiley is one
sentence… Cheap Commodity. The product does
not elicit excitement and would not lend itself to
word-of-mouth promotion.
Rating: 3 (Average)

The SPARK Rating will be the total of the ratings divided by 5
Wiley Widget ends up with a 2.6 rating which puts it below average for companies in its marketplace. These five items will give a pretty accurate accounting of business success and allow a picture to form for areas that need improvement. If 4 out of the 5 areas are very good or better but one area lags behind, this rating will help pinpoint the problem.

Lets look at an example of a company that lags behind in one area.

Molly’s Muffins has a great story of home baker turned entrepreneur.

Story: Her Applesauce muffins were a big hit with her
friends and co-workers. They encouraged her to start
her own business, which she did after scrimping and saving.
The story gets better with her whole grain and organic ingredients.
Rating: 5 (Excellent)
Product: Her muffins are the best. She uses the best
ingredients and makes sure every one is perfect.
Rating: 5 (Excellent)
Atmosphere: This is her weak point. She has taken over
an old donut shop. The walls are dingy white and the
plain glass display cases are boring. She has no sign
or logo on the business. She just has a piece of paper
in the window that says Molly’s Muffins.
Rating: 2 (Poor)
Routine: Her smile is her best selling point and her
attention to detail on each sale is great. The sales routine
is easy to follow and she always makes you feel welcome.
Rating: 5 (Excellent)
Key Values: The word of mouth about her muffins has
driven a tremendous amount of business her way. The key
sentence… Her muffins are the best! Viral Marketing at work.
Rating: 5 (Excellent)

As you can see when we break down the ratings one glaring area becomes apparent. If she were to design a logo, add a sign, and paint the place in friendly colors, her long term viability would increase. The improved atmosphere would increase sales and probably change her key value to cute place and great muffins.

Take a minute and jot down your ratings for some popular businesses in your area. See if there are any glaring problems that could be overcome with a little SPARK! If you run your own business can you see some areas for improvement? Have others rate your business and see if any patterns emerge. A little SPARK never hurts!

Later in the week we’ll look at SPARK and how it relates to Personal Branding.