Still Waking Up

Much of my life has been like a plane taxiing around an airport, heading for one runway, then another, but never quite taking off.

Oh sure, I’ve had successes along the way. I had a good job (by society’s standards), rewarding friendships, interesting travel experiences, and other stuff like that.

But all that is like driving a plane along the ground. I’m at the controls and the plane is moving forward, but it’s not really doing what it’s meant to do.

Sometimes people tell me they like how “grounded” I am. I guess that can be taken in more than one way.

Often I’ve made it to the end of the runway, only to review a painful checklist that never passes inspection:

• Am I absolutely sure that my destination is the right one?
• Is this really the best plane to fly there?
• Do I have enough fuel on board?
• Are all my passengers ready for the trip?
• What if I’m missing out on a better destination?
• What if I crash?
• What if someone else has a faster plane and gets there first?

Eventually, the pain of staying stuck on the ground got to be too much. I took some short-hop flights, tested my wings, and learned as I went along. I attended workshops, read a lot of books, and tried a few new experiences.

And now I am flying the big plane, heading for high altitude, with a bunch of passengers who are as excited about this trip as I am.

Sometimes it takes us a while. We have lessons to learn on the way. But we can’t sit on the ground forever, even if the plane is moving forward.

There’s a great big sky out there, just waiting for us.

Let’s go.

—

There are tons of books out there about how to sell products and services to people, and a lot of those books talk about using manipulative techniques to do it. Often they will devote a few paragraphs to a defence of manipulation in selling, since “all of life is a form of manipulation,” that “not all manipulation is wrong or dishonest,” etc.

Manipulators like to argue that they are only helping people make decisions that would be right for them anyway. The decision that must be made, that is right for “everyone,” that is a “win-win,” is the decision that the manipulator has already chosen as the best outcome. The needs and desires of the customer are either ignored completely, or only exist in the mind of the manipulator.

A hundred years ago, a little book called The Science of Getting Rich addressed this issue:

To set about getting rich in a scientific way, you do not try to apply your will power to anything outside of yourself. You have no right to do so, anyway… It is as flagrantly wrong to coerce people by mental power as it is to coerce them by physical power. If compelling people by physical force to do things for you reduces them to slavery, compelling them by mental means accomplishes exactly the same thing…

A hundred years later, we’re starting to comprehend that.

More entrepreneurs and sellers are becoming conscious of the need to serve clients first and foremost. The idea is to serve people well, with a great product, so that other customers will be drawn to you magnetically. This way, customers convince each other with word of mouth, rather than the seller doing all the heavy lifting.

Out of this comes a new paradigm of service and caring:

1. I get really clear about what I do best, and whom I most love to serve.
2. I begin offering real value up front, with free samples, e-books, workshops, and other products or services that require very little risk to consume.
3. Clients learn to trust me (or not) based on what I have already done for them.
4. Clients decide to come to me (or go elsewhere) based on their perception of the value that I have offered and continue to offer to them.

This model is based on my passion to serve my clients first, followed by faith that the good karma I generate will be rewarded by good client relationships.

Of course, this also requires good business models to back it up – volunteering services does not guarantee a profit! Once I have good relationships with my clients, it’s my responsibility to continue fostering those relationships. At this stage, it becomes easier to offer a valuable, profitable package for my clients to consider purchasing, based on the trust they already have in my ability to deliver.

The customer always has the power to make an informed decision, without being manipulated dishonestly.

And by focusing on service, rather than on trying to get something from the customer, we get to keep our souls and feed our spirits.

What do you think? Does that work for you?

—

There has been a movement over the past few decades, away from personal interaction with customers, towards automated responses, centralized call centres and the cost reduction that goes along with that. Big companies, finding it hard to attract new clients, have attempted to increase profits by reducing the amount of money spent on serving the clients they have. Welcome to the age of, “Your response was not understood. Press 5 to repeat these options.”

That is changing. Not only are large corporations talking about developing a better relationship with their clients, but small companies are actually doing something about it, and new companies can’t get off the ground without it.

When a business tries to get a new customer, it faces a cynical crowd. We are all asking the question, “What have you done for me, lately?” and “Why should I trust you?” After years of broken promises from all kinds of companies, we consumers need to be picky.

The Internet Economy is changing the way companies approach new clients. Remember the first web browser, Mozilla, back in 1994? It was free to download. It caught on quickly and gained trust because we didn’t have to take a risk spending money on something we weren’t familiar with. And now, 16 years later, giving stuff away has never been cheaper. Free information, software and services are available everywhere. And companies (like Google and Facebook) that give most of their services away for free, are growing their profits at a rate never before seen.

This is how companies are learning to build relationships: Give away something of value, show the world that they know what they’re talking about, build trust based on demonstrated expertise, and keep in touch with clients (and prospects) online. It gets easier to buy something from someone you trust.

And in cases like Google and Facebook, develop a following of millions of people overnight, that companies can tap into through networking and advertising.

Some people might argue that they aren’t real relationships if it’s just faceless corporations throwing stuff at people via an impersonal website. On the other hand, local entrepreneurs are using the same methods to build personal relationships with people in their neighborhood. And the message is growing: We need relationships, not just transactions. Business is built on relationships, which are built on trust, which is built on integrity and service.

And a world with more integrity, trust and service is a better place, in my opinion.