Feelings and Emotions –

An Important Key to the Bottom Line

When we consider our progress as it relates to the “Bottom Line”, we are usually referring to our Profit or Loss.  At a very basic level, that is why we are in business, correct?  We strive to make a profit so that we can remain in business, provide a living for our family, our employees and their families, and provide a product or service that contributes to the community.  If we fail to make a profit for an extended period of time, we have to make some tough decisions, or decide to take our career in a different direction. This means anything that has a major impact on the bottom line is of interest to us. 

Now that you and I are thinking about dollars and profit or loss, let me throw you a curve.  A quote I ran across recently from the wonderful American poet and author, Maya Angelou, strikes me as one of the most important keys to that bottom line.  Are you ready for it?

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." Maya Angelou, American author and poet

Powerful and true, isn’t it?  But I can already hear the hesitation in your voice.  “But wait a minute, friend,” you say.  “If we are talking dollars and cents and profit and loss, what in the world does feeling and emotion have to do with it?”  Great question.  Here is my theory:  Feeling and emotion are critical elements to our bottom line….just not OUR feelings and emotions.  The feelings and emotions of our CUSTOMERS AND EMPLOYEES are the ones that are the most critical.  I ask of you just a moment or two more to let me show you why.

Many of you know that before I entered the Better Business Bureau system in 2008 as the Operations Manager for the Fort Worth BBB, I worked 11 years for UPS – the package delivery company.  I learned many valuable lessons there that shaped to a large extent who I am and how I work today.  I started there just like every other new employee – moving packages.  I have loaded trucks, unloaded trucks, loaded trailers, unloaded trailers, driven package cars, made deliveries, you name it.  Two of the most valuable lessons I learned, I believe, have significant relevance to our discussion today:

1.  Every package you touch is the most valuable one you will handle that day.

2.  You can only expect what you inspect.  Those things that are measured and tracked are the things that get achieved.

Sounds like worthy advice for a package delivery company, but what does that have to do with you and your business?  And how in the world does that relate to Maya Angelou’s quote?  Hear me out.

“Every package you touch is the most valuable one you will handle today.”

We never knew what the packages we touched contained, unless it was marked on the outside.  What we were taught was that every package COULD contain something of immense value – jewelry, high-priced electronic equipment, original signed papers related to a company merger worth millions of dollars, a young woman's wedding dress, a care package going to a soldier overseas, the personal effects of a soldier coming home….now do you see what I mean?  Every package we touched was of INCREDIBLE value and was the most valuable one of the day – as far as the person receiving the package was concerned – because it was THEIR PACKAGE!  That led to greater package care and greater effort in getting THAT package delivered on time.

Let’s translate that to your business.  Let’s say three customers walked into your store at the same time today (already excited aren’t you?):

         1. The first is a problematic customer whom you have dealt with for years who never spends very much but always creates problems whenever there is a transaction.

         2.  The second is your biggest client whose account is your largest account and who plays a major part in whether your business is profitable or not.

         3.  The third is a very influential person in the community, possibly one of your Board of Directors, who can really help you and your business go places, or not.

You know what question is coming, don’t you?  How do you treat the three customers?  Do you treat them the same, or do you treat them differently?  Truth be told, probably differently – maybe significantly different.  But should we?  Let’s apply the first UPS idea to this scenario.  What would happen if you:

** Treated every single phone call as the most important one you would get today?

** Treated every single e-mail as the most important one you would respond to today?

** Treated every customer as the most important one you would assist today?

If you did that, you are perfectly aligned with every person who called you, sent you an e-mail, or walked into your store today – because in their mind their phone call, e-mail, or visit to your store IS the most important one of your day…..BECAUSE IT IS THEM!  Now, if you did that, I guarantee you that they would walk away from that encounter convinced that they ARE the most important customer in the world to you - feeling valued, appreciated, and helped.  And you have just learned THE MOST IMPORTANT key in building brand loyal, repeat customers – that is, understanding how they FEEL as a result of their interaction with you and your company!

This is the key to avoiding that dreaded “churn” of gaining and losing customers that costs business so much time, effort, and money.  And it’s all about how people FEEL through their encounter with you and your business!  Now do you see the connection to the quote?

If you make your customers feel like the most valued, appreciated, and important persons in the world when they are interacting with you, they will not forget it – and they will keep coming back, because they love that feeling! 

Now, what about your employees?  What about your interaction with them and with each other?  Again, here is the key to building loyal, motivated, and energized employees - how you make them FEEL.

About now, some of you are saying, “Look, friend, I don’t have time to chit-chat with my employees and our customers, chewing the fat with them, just so they will feel all warm and fuzzy – I have a business to run!”  Okay….Can I make a real strong statement here? 

If you don’t have time for your employees and your customers, if you don’t have time to make them feel like the most important person in your world today – then you don’t have time to be a successful business person – because at the end of the day, you won’t be!

Yes, it is that important!  Does it take courage and effort and hard work to do this?  You bet it does!  But doesn’t everything of real value require the same?

Now others of you may be saying, “Hey, we already do that…every customer is treated exactly the same!”  Are you sure….really sure?  Let’s go back to UPS lesson number two:

“You can only expect what you inspect.  What gets tracked and measured gets achieved.”

My challenge to you this month is to get out from the confines of your office and spend some time at the front desk, on the sales floor, or out in the field with your employees.  Go look - find out for yourself – is that really how you treat your customers?  The answers may surprise you.  The fact is, when you start looking and asking questions, your employees will figure out – hey this really IS important to the boss, I had better take another look at it.  Remember, what gets tracked and measured gets achieved. 

In my office, just above my head is a list of the 13 goals that we are working on this year.  I purposely placed it there so that I would constantly see it whenever I am at my computer, and so that our entire team would see it when they are in my office.  Those are also the goals that are the basis for determining their bonus at the end of the year….what gets tracked and measured….

Try it out, see what happens when you approach every interaction, every meeting, as the most important one of the day.  Your customers, your employees and you will feel better and more valued, and you will have just taken a major step toward positively impacting your bottom line.

Let us know how we can help you as your BBB.  Have a great month and keep building your better business!