Is Investors in People worth it?

[warp9]

We've had the IIP accreditation since 2003. I get the whole ethos about developing and supporting your staff and business. My question is more external - does a customer ever look to the IIP accreditation and think, 'that's going to convince me to buy XYZ from this business'?

The reason I ask is that we are now due to renew our membership and go through the whole assessment again and in all that time, I am not aware of one unit we have sold because of it.

So, has it been worth the £12K ish we've spent on it in the last decade?

BTW - we work in financial services as a broker selling insurance to the public.

Thanks

[Simpo Two]

I remember making corporate videos when it came out, and how companies would proudly tack the logo onto everything. All it really meant then was 'garbage in garbage out' and I'd be surprised if it's any different now.

An issue might arise, of course, if you're trying to get work from someone with no imagination who insists on seeing the logo before signing the PO.

The question for you is - have you got an extra £12K's profit because of it?

[Frimley111R]

If it was my money then no. The principals are sound but I doubt many companies sold anything more because they had it although by applying IiP working practices they may have improved their overall business performance.

[Simpo Two]

It did however help to keep the pages of my local 'business' magazine filled - with photos of smiling blokes in suits handing each other certificates.

[jonamv8]

it's not even at the bottom of my decision making list when it comes to procurement of services or products

[foliedouce]

I think you guys are looking at it from the wrong angle.

As you state OP - it is all about developing / supporting staff, if you are looking at it as a box ticking exercise to sell more units then no, just having the logo won't achieve that.

However if you look at it as a way of nurturing the culture of your business by investing in and supporting your people, then it's time and money well spent. Constantly improving culture creates happier and more engaged staff which means better service to customers which means you sell more units.

What is it Drucker said? - "Culture eats strategy for breakfast" and I subscribe to that. In any business all roads lead back to your people.

We've had IIP since 2007 and have just gone through the latest assessment. When I read the report it gave a real insight into what was important to our staff and how we could improve. It also benchmarked us in a number of areas against other businesses. This information, taken by an independent third party, is invaluable (if acted upon).

We don't have a massive business, but we've grown from 43 staff in 2007 when we first got IIP, to over 100 today. The one thing that 99% of our staff say about the reason they joined us - our culture, and IIP is one way of keeping a check on that.

If you're doing for a logo and to get a photo of yourself in the local biz mag, then don't bother. If you're doing it to improve your business (and hence get more sales) then £12k over 10 years is cheap (in my opinion)