Tip: Treat other people like they are your customers!
In your work experience, have you ever noticed how important it is to treat all of your customers in a nice manner? One of the first things that any business training program will teach you is the concept that “the customer is always right.” We have all heard that concept many times. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why that concept is so important?
The reason for this basic premise in a business relationship is that customers are the ones who can make or break any business. Customers vote with their money! If you have a lot of customers who are happy, they will tell other people about the good service and products you offer. That will help your business to prosper. However, if the customer feels he or she has been cheated, wronged or treated in a disrespectful manner, then naturally the word will spread about that situation as well. Your business will soon be in trouble! Therefore, it is important to treat customers nicely. Someone once wisely noted, “You must touch their heart before you can touch their money!” I believe that is true!
If you will stop and think about all the stores or places of business you have ever entered, you will see that, for the most part, the attitude of customer service must be one of positive encouragement. Walk into a Waffle House and see how long it takes one of the employees to greet you. It will be less than 15 seconds. Go to Chick-fil-A and hear the employee say, “My pleasure!” rather than “Thanks pal!” Since the success of a business rises and falls on the way customers are treated, this becomes the most important quality every business can achieve.
Have you ever thought about how valuable this concept would be if we used this same philosophy in our own business and family relationships? If we started treating all of our fellow co-workers or employees as if they were customers, we would begin to see them in a whole new light. What if schoolteachers treated their students like important customers to whom they were trying to make a big sale? What if you knew your financial future depended upon your relationship with your husband or wife? Can you imagine the amount of patience you would suddenly develop with them overnight? What about with your own children? If we all spoke to them and treated them as if they were our most valuable customers, would it make any difference in our voice tones, our patience level, or the way we interacted with each one of them? I think it would; at least I know it works for me!
I was recently working with my daughter, Esther, on a project. I was giving her some coaching tips to help her through a financial situation in her business. I practiced this particular Tip as I was working with her. I treated her like she was the most important customer who had ever walked into my store or my life. I immediately felt myself developing a sense of calmness and peace. I felt myself needing to take a couple of extra deep breaths and steering the conversation in a way that would be helpful, productive, and uplifting. I have seen over the years that we tend to get a little short or “snappy” with the people we work with daily, or even worse, the people we live with or family members who we are supposed to love.
There is the old saying, “familiarity breeds contempt.” We have all experienced that phenomenon. The only thing I know that can stop us from slipping into unkind behavior and instead turn things in a positive direction is to begin to treat other people as if they are our most important customer. It is a concept that I have seen work time and again in my own personal life and business.
As I have shared this concept with others, the feedback I have received has been incredibly positive. So, I wanted to share this insight with you. I am sure it is not original with me; it has been around for some time. Regardless of how long it has been around, it neither does you nor I any good until we begin to put it into practice. I suppose that time can begin today! Try this Tip in all that you do (specifically with your co-workers and your family) and watch the incredible difference and transformation that will take place inside and outside of you almost immediately.
Tip: Treat other people like they are your customers!
Have a great week! God bless you!
Dr. Robert Rohm
