…Is to keep the main thing the main thing.
When my daughter lived in Santa Barbara CA, my preferred mode of transport from the LA airport to her home and back again was to take the Santa Barbara Airbus.
Once the driver picked up the last passenger he would stand in the middle of the isle to tell us about all the safety features, fire extinguishers and escape hatches in case of emergency and then he would tell us about the amenities on board.
There was a rest room in the rear, an “honor bar” housed in a white cooler in the first row with water and power bars. There was Wi-Fi, free hard candies, and some comment cards in case we wanted to tell company how well the driver did on that day’s ride.
Mike, the driver on the day I’m remembering, reminded us to use the hand rails on the top by the luggage racks if we did have to get up during the ride. Because of traffic on the 405 – we’d be taking the scenic route most of the way on the Pacific Coast Highway.
Then he told us with a big smile on his face – to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. “I will get you there safely,” he said. “That’s the main thing.”
Every business has a “Main Thing”; and the key challenge in every business I’ve ever worked with is keeping the “Main Thing” the main thing.
What’s the main thing in your business?
Sure it’s easy to say “bottom line profits” because a business usually can’t run without them; but the truth is a business can’t run well without customers either. And for that matter, without employees you wouldn’t be able to take very good care of the customers, would you?
So what’s the main thing? Customers? Employees? Speed? Happiness? Ease? Price? Size? Location?
The Main Thing is the quality of the relationships you have with human beings inside and outside the company.
There’s an old saying that goes, “Customers don’t care how much you know until they know how much you CARE” . When your entire team sees the main thing as creating authentic relationships with everyone you touch in business – with energy, enthusiasm and empathy – it will give you a “leg up” on the competition. Caring companies know what matters to employees and customers and they focus on the things that matter most.
Safety, security, quality, speed, convenience, price, location and all the other things we label “Value” don’t matter much UNLESS they matter to the customer.
Spend a little time this week thinking about what your “Main Thing” is.
It’s the quality of the relationships you have inside and outside the company. Grab a copy of my revised free Special Report on staying on TRACK – and building relationships that thrive.
www.ReturnOnHappiness.com/track
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