Friendliness as Strategy
“I don’t mean being famous is a perk, because one knows that it’s not necessarily a perk, but there are certain perks to being well-known and respected in one’s field. Public perks. Like, I don’t know, general friendliness and willingness to please, just to point out two.” ~ Emma Thompson
The Purpose of Business…
One of the greatest articles ever written on business success was drafted way back in 1960 by Theodore Levitt entitled, Marketing Myopia and makes the case for why businesses of every size either succeed or fail.
I was on my 4th or 5th business by the time I read this article in the Havard Business Review.
I immediately saw the connection between his thoughts and my business.
The big idea is that the reason companies FAIL is that they don’t know what business they are in. They lose their focus and simply become irrelevant to the customer.
Levitt devoted many pages to help the reader understand how this happens and concluded that they simply lost sight of their PURPOSE.
Now, if you ask 100 people “what is the purpose of their business?” 99% if not all 100 will tell you that it is to MAKE MONEY.
Which, of course, is the wrong answer!
Think of it this way.
We all have to breathe to live. At seminars, I pose this question and tell the attendees to hold their breath until I tell them it’s ok to breathe.
Try it now. Hold your breath until I say breathe!
There is no question that we must breathe to live.
There is no question that we must be alive to live.
Pretty basic stuff.
(Are you still holding your breath? Good!)
What is important to remember is that just breathing is not the point of living.
Living is the point of living.
And so it is with your business.
(Are you still holding your breath? Good!)
You have to make money, but that’s not the reason to be in business. It is just an essential element… not the PRIME PURPOSE.
(Turning purple yet?)
There is only ONE reason to be in business.
There is only ONE prime purpose, and by living up to that purpose, you succeed.
(OK, go ahead and breathe!)
I think I made the point that you need to breathe to live, but that’s not the reason you live. You live for a higher purpose… a true cause that is expressed this way:
The purpose of business is to GET and KEEP customers.
Why else would your business exist?
Fail to GET enough customers, you fail.
Fail to KEEP customers coming back, you fail.
Do both well, and you succeed! You join the ranks of the largest, most profitable business on earth — Apple, Microsoft, Walmart, Citi, Kroger, Amazon…
Making money is a RESULT, not a PURPOSE.
Which is where friendliness as strategy comes in.
The key to all that GETTING and KEEPING is friendly people.
People who like people.
People who enjoy serving others.
People who smile.
People who work well with other people.
People who are smart, firm but most of all, friendly.
STRATEGY: Be Friendly… Hire Friendly!
If you want to succeed in business, you need the right TOOLS. Which is why we created the My Biz IQ Leadership Program.
As important, you need friendly people using these tools.
Think about it:)
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Category: Business Growth, Featured
