Today’s post is different; a timely story I thought I’d share with you that may prompt you to think differently about your customers. I also hope to inspire a bit more passion in your work.
Last night as I lay awake, willing the sandman to arrive, my mind drifted to a variety of topics as it usually does. I found myself thinking about work, worrying about little things here and there, and praying for peace so my thoughts would quiet down and I could sleep. As soon as I’d ration with myself that all is fine and to relax, the thoughts would churn through my head once again. I worried that perhaps I forgot to do something, although I couldn’t think of what that would be. I suspect this is normal for those of us who function at a high level of passion about our work.
When I got up, it was my day off. While I was able to finally sleep, my mind immediately drifted back to partially finished projects, ideas I had yet to write down, client conversations the previous week, and so forth. Before long, I was back to indexing what had to get done and sporadically jotting down ideas I had for various clients. I didn’t want to forget to be inspired when I got back to work the next day, nor did I want to lose track of ideas popping in my mind for the following week, month, and even year. As you can imagine, I was zombie walking through the house, doing laundry and dishes, while my thoughts ran through imaginary scenarios.
After admonishing myself for not getting more sleep the night before, convinced that another cup of coffee would help, I headed to the coffee pot. Then it hit me. I stopped dead in my tracks and thought, “Who is losing sleep over me?” Is there someone walking around his or her house on her day off pondering if I’m a happy customer or what more he/she can do for me upon returning to work?
I want to inspire you to approach your customers in a whole new way today. Whether you are training in a new employee or writing a blog post, think about your most valuable asset; your current customer! Small businesses strategize about how to differentiate themselves from competitors. Taking care of your customers and making sure they know how much they mean to you is critical.
The next time you are on the other side of the counter, ask yourself “I wonder if this person is losing sleep over me?” Maybe this question is a bit extreme, but the image it conjures is interesting, isn’t it?
