Do you like Christmas shopping? I dread doing laps around a store looking for ideas for the hard-to-buy-for people on my list. But several years ago I started doing something ordinary that has completely changed Christmas shopping for me. When I spend time with loved ones, I try to pay attention to their likes, wants or needs and I note them in my phone. Then, come December, I have an idea list so I can get each person a gift that fits them perfectly.

The snag to this plan, of course, is when I’ve been too focused on myself or my agenda to notice what someone might need. When I approach my time with others wanting to be served or as tasks to be completed, I don’t notice their needs and so, come December, I’m at a loss as to what gift would serve them best.

And in the same way, maybe we’re missing out on how to serve our customers best. When we are too busy with our agenda, we miss out on seeing others’ needs. We need three things to solve this problem:

1. We need to listen actively.
2. We need to note our customers’ needs.
3. We need to follow up and work to fulfill the needs.

Odds are that our customers’ needs are obvious, but that we’re not always listening for them. We need to have our focus on serving others in all that we do, even if that means our agendas need to be interrupted for us to do so.

We may notice needs from time to time, but how can we be more intentional and practical with them? The following are some ideas I had. If you have a client-service business, you should be focused on actively listening for your clients’ needs in every conversation. Simply set apart time to note needs after conversations. If you have a retail business, you could set up a note board for sales associates to write down customer needs they’ve discovered. If you have a service-based business, you could have your employees note customer needs after each service provided.

It’s often the simple things that can make a big difference in how we serve customers. If we actively listen for needs and work to meet those needs, we may find our businesses become rare and our customers become loyal.

 

Original image from Death To The Stock Photo.

About the Author: Lindsey Tolino comes alongside artisans, craftsman and people monetizing their passions to help them create healthy businesses. She shares her heart at ToBusinessOwners.com. Follow her on Twitter @LindseyTolino or connect with her on Google+ .

What do we think about our customers?

My mom was buying some anti-congestion medication this past week. She asked the pharmacy tech for the OTC version (which they keep behind the counter). My mom requested two boxes and the tech said “We’ll see.” The tech continued to make my mom feel like a criminal throughout the rest of the process until the tech finally relinquished the medication.

We know not everyone is trustworthy all the time, including our customers. But what a mistake it is to err on the side of distrusting them. When we assume the worst of our customers, we aren’t as friendly, caring or helpful as we should be. If we count them as tasks we need to complete or obstacles to accomplish sales, we will not be as successful as we could be. And worst of all, if we stereotype them as we see them, we miss out on serving them excellently.

All of this starts in our thoughts. When we see a customer what do we think? Do we think a woman is poor if she has messy hair? She could be a busy mom. Do we think a man is rich if we see him in a suit? It could have been donated to him. We all fall into it. But stereotypes don’t help us serve people best.

When we see a customer what should we think?

We should see them as human, like we are. We should think about the honor it is to serve another person. We should feel thankful to have the skills and ability to serve them. We should feel grateful we are needed to serve them.

And all that should lead us to listen to them, to make their needs the priority and to serve them the best we can.

And let’s not forget about the consequences when we continue to entertain stereotypes about customers. My mom told me about her experience at the pharmacy because of the negative emotional impact it had on her. Negative word-of-mouth is a natural consequence of poor service due to our stereotypes.

The best customer service starts in our thoughts about our customers.

What do you think about your customers?

 

Image info: Photo by Adam Przewoski, found on Unsplash.

About the Author: Lindsey Tolino comes alongside artisans, craftsman and people monetizing their passions to help them create healthy businesses. She shares her heart at ToBusinessOwners.com. Follow her on Twitter @LindseyTolino or connect with her on Google+ .

Sometimes we get discouraged that we can’t do the grand things we aspire to and in our discouragement, we don’t even attempt the small things. The problem with that is that often it’s the small, non-glamorous acts that can make all the difference in our organizations.

I experienced it several years ago. I had been working for one week cleaning classrooms when my boss decided to join me. I was immediately intimidated as she took up a rag and wiped down tables with me. I was sure she had a bigger agenda – maybe to reprimand me for an earlier performance or maybe to lay down the law of the land. I wasn’t sure, but I was cautious and careful as I continued to clean.

She asked me about myself and it seemed like she actually cared. She cleaned diligently. She spent several hours with me and I found she didn’t have any agenda except to get to know me better and to serve me. I felt incredibly loved.

That one sacrificial act by my boss set the tone. I was inspired to give my absolute best. I felt safe and cared for. I felt served and seen.

A small act of love can set the tone for those around you. But love always costs us something. It might mean you have to set aside your busy schedule for a morning. It might mean you stay late so your co-worker can leave early. Maybe it means that you humbly do work you feel like is beneath you. Ultimately, it means that you don’t exercise all the rights that come with being a leader, but instead you serve in love.

When we’re focused on adding value to the bottom line, we may miss opportunities to add value to those around us. It’s really hard to rip ourselves from our never-ending work (and there are times when it may be unwise to do so), but if we’re always inescapably swamped, we’ll always miss out on bettering our organizations by serving others.

When you love, you change things. I worked harder and more sacrificially because of my boss’s leadership. I respected and trusted her much more than many other bosses I’ve had. And my boss didn’t just serve me, she poured herself out for many others as well. She has added so much value to the world through her sacrificial love. The world is unmistakably better because she’s in it.

Let’s add value to the world, not take from it. Let’s make sure that those around us are seen, loved and served. Yes, it will cost us. But I bet the benefits of our sacrifices will far outweigh the costs.

 

Image info: Original image by Ed Gregory.

About the Author: Lindsey Tolino comes alongside artisans, craftsman and people monetizing their passions to help them create healthy businesses. She shares her heart at ToBusinessOwners.com. Follow her on Twitter @LindseyTolino or connect with her on Google+ .

We moved from Pittsburgh to Raleigh in early Spring 2014. Now we’ve moved back from Raleigh to Pittsburgh this fall. It’s hard to sort through your stuff, pack it up and move it several states over. It’s even harder to leave relationships you’ve started, knowing they won’t be the same when you’re hundreds of miles apart. Moving is hard.

But it’s even harder to stay. It’s hard to maintain relationships come hell or high water (or children or distance). It’s hard to go to the same job year after year and put 100% in each day. It’s easier to quit. It’s easier to walk away. It’s easier to run.

You can do something for a brief moment that is beautiful and valuable. But those who consistently put in the sacrificial work are the ones that make the most sustainable difference.

Consistency is hard. But its rewards are great.

Why consistency is hard:

1. Rewards aren’t immediate.
2. New is exciting. Think about a new job, a new house, a new love – they all offer hope of something greater than what we already know. So new is inherently exciting and consistency generally isn’t.
3. Consistency can mean you’re unseen. When you are consistent, people may take your consistency for granted and you may feel unseen. However, a benefit of your consistency is that random drama likely won’t follow you like a bad penny.

Why consistency is worth it:

1. Trust is built over time. Healthy relationships are formed through mutual trust. And healthy relationships are rare and valuable. They are mutually life-giving, beneficial and enriching.
2. We can be improved through consistency. When we deny ourselves and consistently sacrifice for others, we become better people. We find when we give our lives away, we are better for it.
3. We achieve great feats through consistency. Great achievements are completed by consistent work. A marathon, a skyscraper and a life-well lived are all built through consistent steps. Those who have consistently sacrificed themselves for others are the greats of history.

We might decide to move a mountain in a major life-decision moment. But it’s in our day-to-day consistent work that we actually move the mountain, shovel by shovel. It’s when we are consistent in the seemingly mundane and the boring steps that we actually create major change.

Let’s encourage each other in consistency, in the less-than-glamorous day-to-day. Because we are all changing the landscape, one shovel at a time.

 

 

Image info: Original image by Paul E. Harrer.

About the Author: Lindsey Tolino comes alongside artisans, craftsman and people monetizing their passions to help them create healthy businesses. She shares her heart at ToBusinessOwners.com. Follow her on Twitter @LindseyTolino or connect with her on Google+ .

I fall under this lie a lot – that I have to live like I gotta get mine.  If I’m not out for me, who else will be, right?

Wrong. So wrong.

Think about your closest relationship – maybe with a spouse, a friend or a family member. Think about a time when you approached that relationship solely with a “gotta get mine” mentality. How did that go? How would it go if you did that all the time with them?

Ok, but that’s personal relationships. It’s different in business, isn’t it?

I sat down with a few businessmen a month or so ago. I asked them what is the greatest lesson they’ve learned in business. The eldest two affirmed that they’ve learned the value of giving something away and not strapping people for money for everything they do. They’ve experienced growth in their business when they haven’t nickel-and-dimed people, but instead have been generous with their skills and connections.

We know this intuitively, don’t we? We dislike paying people who feel like they’re only out for themselves. Trust is an essential component of business.  And we don’t usually feel like we can trust people who seek their own interests over ours.

And we also know the opposite is true – we more easily trust individuals who sacrifice for us.  I trust my mom with my life because of how much she’s sacrificed for me. And there are a few select others I trust because of how they have served me so thoroughly. You’ve got people like this too. 

“Gotta get mine” isn’t really accurate either. It’s backwards. If we truly were out for our own interests, we would seek to serve others. We would probably be happier and run more sustainable businesses if our primary focus was on serving others. In fact, the people I know that constantly focus on themselves are the most miserable people I know.

“Gotta get mine” is unsustainable in business and in life because we live and do business with people. We need to be able to trust each other if we want to do well. We’re all better if we’re out for each other’s best, rather than our own. Let’s bury “gotta get mine.”

 

Image info: Original image by Death To The Stock Photo.

About the Author: Lindsey Tolino comes alongside artisans, craftsman and people monetizing their passions to help them create healthy businesses. She shares her heart at ToBusinessOwners.com. Follow her on Twitter @LindseyTolino or connect with her on Google+.