The new mantra: love and service
by OneCoach Team | posted on November 12th, 2008 | Strategy
In the old game of business, the prevailing mantra was “high leverage, high profit, high payoff.” In the new game of business, the mantra needs to be “love, serve, and love some more.”
What do love and service have to do with running a business?
It all has to do with the hierarchy of human interaction, which consists of three levels: obey, serve and love.
Obey. Suppose you call a company to help you solve a problem. You ask to receive the service a certain way and they say, “I’m sorry, that’s against our procedures.” This is the lowest level of human interaction because the company is more concerned with obeying their own rules than helping to solve your problem.
Unfortunately, most companies operate on the level of “obey.” They spend more time trying to get customers to understand why they can’t help them (because it would violate their rules) than they do actually helping them.
Serve. Moving up one level is simple. Instead of telling customers, “Sorry, that’s our policy here,” change it to, “How can I help you? How can I serve you?”
When somebody calls for service, never put your rules and policies ahead of serving the customer, unless to do so would violate the law or cause potential legal liability. Absent of any legal ramifications, always put serving ahead of obeying.
Love. The highest level of human interaction is love. Service is asking someone, “How can I serve you?” Love involves taking the time to listen to someone and understand how they truly feel. It requires compassion, empathy and understanding, even when people are angry or upset with you.
Love may sound like it has no place in the cold, hard business world. In reality, love is a very pragmatic business strategy. People love to be cared for, and there are very few times in the business world where they can say, “That person cared about me. That person served me in the spirit of love.”
When you interact with customers in the spirit of love (as opposed to doing something because you have to), it takes the relationship to a whole new level. People will overlook bad service, bad policies and a lot of other mistakes when they feel you truly care about them.
This concept of love and service applies to employees as well as customers. Start treating your people as human beings rather than as a cost on the balance sheet and they will never leave you.
More than anything, people want to be cared for and cared about. When you treat your customers with love, they don’t even think of doing business anywhere else.
This post is the fourth in a series of excerpts from OneCoach CEO John Assaraf’s interview with business consultant Mitch Axelrod, author of The New Game of Business.
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November 12th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
sooo right on !!! nice to know there are others who share my outlook!
November 12th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Hi,
I am just in the process of finishing off your amazing book ” The Answer” and also decided to sign up to you news letter.
I must state that I wish I had bought the book a long time ago as I am already begining to see very positive manifestations.
The articles that you also have written have been very helpful.
Keep up the amazing work.
Richard.
United Kingdom
November 12th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Thank you. That was a very good point; it was practical, insightful, and functional. We appreciate it.
November 12th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Love it, always felt that love was the only way to move forward in todays world. Resonated with my values.
Thanks
November 13th, 2008 at 12:06 am
Obey, serve and love very interesting business technics, i believe they are awesome and would really work if done with passion. I believe doing business is serving the people.
November 13th, 2008 at 7:22 am
Zig Ziglar summed it up nicely, “You can get everything you want in life if you help enough people get what they want.”
November 13th, 2008 at 7:30 am
John, I believe you our spot on with this message! 5 stars
Keep it going.
Rick
November 13th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Amen to this one, John! For years, I have seen first hand how caring for folks really pays off in the business world as an artist. Not everyone who supplies a product or service also cares for their clients/patrons who provide their income. People need to know we care about them and not just the money we earn from them. If we treated one another more lovingly in this world, we would all be a lot healthier and happier! Again, I say, “Amen”!
November 14th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Being a therapist, I am discovering that in these difficult times, “obeying” and love are key words to being of service to others. Generosity, too.
January 1st, 2009 at 5:31 am
It is so refreshing to see others express how I feel. It is so easy to show acts of kindness and love–to customers and even to fellow employees. A smile, a compliment or just to listen for a few moments sometimes makes someone’s day completely better. Compassion is the key. If we can put ourselves in the other person’s shoes for just a moment, we will act a lot differently toward them. Suppose it was you being treated that way. Would you like it? Great, great article. Many kudos.