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Dear ,
Servants in our Coptic Church are taught to love who they serve... to genuinely care for their needs... to anguish in their agony and rejoice in their triumphs.
It's called serving with your heart.
Similarly,
your business is an extension of yourself -- of who you are. Don't think for a second that you can (or should) be a warm, loving, kind person in your personal life and an apathetic, robotic, unemotional version of yourself in business. It's inconsistent... there's no way to justify that.
It's a poor reflection of who you are... and frankly... it's bad for business.
Instead, you must genuinely care about your customers' well-being. Truly love them and protect their interests -- even if that sometimes means doing what's not best for you financially. And even when they're impossible to deal with!
I've been in that situation. As a marketing strategist (also when I was practicing law), I've sometimes given advice to clients that I knew would
result in less fees for me. So be it. I did it anyway. I truly believed it was best for the client... plus... I knew that, down the road, caring more about their interests would yield me more business and referrals. And it has in spades.
It's called playing the long game.
I Once Had a Client Who Sold
High-End Jewelry on the Internet...
This client was a real go-getter and very driven -- and he did something you'd never expect from an internet retailer. Every time someone placed an order through his website, he personally called them up to thank them and let them know their shipment
was on it's way.
Amazing, right?
So simple, yet so effective.
His customers were floored! They told him so. Don't think that makes a forever impression on a customer? It truly does.
Have you ever ordered something online and
then received a thank you call from the seller? Yeah, me neither. But my client built an incredibly large following loving his customers... genuinely caring for their needs... and breaking the mold.
Real love is an incredibly powerful thing -- in both your personal and professional life. For us Copts, it's the only way to live.
P.S. I joke about "Don't tell my wife."
Actually, my wife is well aware of how I feel about loving and sincerely caring about all the people I deal with -- on all levels. I learned this example from my father who taught me many invaluable lessons.
Make your weekend a great one!
If you have any comments, ideas or suggestions, please email me at:
nader@copticchamber.com
Until next time...
Your friend,
