Last week I was talking with a client who told me that a neighbor’s 8-year-old son ran away. It was at 10 o’clock at night and the neighborhood was all abuzz. Police cars with flashing lights, helicopters with spotlights flying overhead, and the whole neighborhood was out searching for the child.
Kids are frustrating.
Kids are crazy.
Kids are also the most amazing thing ever.
Yes, they will poke your last nerve when your guard is down, but they will also make you smile, laugh, and feel loved.
It’s this good that outweighs the bad, every time.
Our bad memories fade away and we remember the good things, or just that there were feelings there at some point. Most of us do this because if we focus on the pain too much, then we don’t function well. We need to let go of the bad stuff so we can keep moving forward.
The child that ran away was found by a neighbor. The first thing the parents did was rush over to him and give him a hug. They forget about all the pain of not knowing where their child was and showed him love. From pain to joy in an instant.
People choose to have kids not because each experience is pleasurable, far from it.
Learning Curve
Last year my son, who was 4 years old at the time, was having a tough few hours. He fluctuated between pure happiness and frustration almost minute to minute. He decided to pick up a wooden blog and throw it. I warned him not to throw the blocks. Less than a minute later he picked up another wooden block and threw it at me. It hit me flat on my ear and it hurt. I sent him to time out. He cried for 30 minutes, only calming down from being too tired to cry any more.
We had a nice chat about his behavior and he swung into a good mood. Then a couple hours later, I retold the incident to my wife at the dinner table with him sitting next to us. He then interrupted my story, by saying, “All I hear is bla, bla, bla.”
I lost it. My mouth dropped and I yelled, “GO TO TIME OUT!”
After I calmed down, I realized how funny the situation was. I was making a mistake. I was lecturing and he was tuning me out. All he did was verbalize it. I won’t get this same feedback in a few years.
He was trying to teach me to be a better parent in his own narcissistic way, which all 4-year-olds are, rightfully so. They don’t know any other way to be yet.
Customers are trying to teach you how to create a better business. Are you listening?
Yes, sometimes customers deserve to go to timeout, but if you focus in on why they want your attention instead of tuning them out, you’ll find your greatest growth in this difficult work.
It’s this learning that I crave in my life and it can only happen when I’m immersed in someone else’s life. It’s why I love working with my clients. They force me to adjust, to become smarter.
Connection
It’s this connection that I crave in my relationships. I don’t want easy — I want growth. Growth together. A relationship that helps me understand myself better and a deeper connection with them.
People continue to have children because of this connection. We want to be connected to something that we care about. Children fill that basic need of connecting with something greater than ourselves. The love has no bounds.
Business is all about connection too. The better we are at connecting, helping, and improving people’s lives the more we fulfill our own basic needs.
People will forget and forgive your mistakes as long as you try your best. It’s better to try to connect and/or ask for the sale before you are 100% ready because if you hold back too much, people will forget you exist.
If the connection with your ideal customers isn’t being formed quickly enough then you need to try different offers (A/B testing is good for this) until you find the one that resonates. If you don’t offer unique ways to deepen the connection, then they won’t want to stay connected. You need to keep looking for new ways to attract your ideal customer and push the away the ones that don’t understand the value that you deliver.
The more you infuse stories behind the value that you provide, the easier it is for people to remember you when they need your help. Your story starts at first contact then when they hit your website (link to 50 easy to use wordpress themes), it needs to be designed well for your type of customer, usually simple is best, so they can get what they need quickly.
When you care about connecting with your customers, design your connection systems around their needs, you are able to create a happier business. A happy owner and happy employees trickles down to your customers. You will be delivering smiles instead of delivering just a product or service.
When you make a child smile it lights you up inside. When you make your customers smile the same feeling occurs. It’s this ability to help someone who needs your help that fulfills your greatest need. Connection. By making the concept of delivering smiles a part of your company culture you create a domino effect that can go on indefinitely.
How do you focus on making your ideal customers smile?
Takeaway
By going for the smile instead of the sale, the sales come easier and more often. The relationship becomes about the connection, which is 10x more powerful and profitable.
When you understand your customers give more to you than you to them then you won’t ever stop digging just a bit deeper to make them smile.
Do you have an ideal customer connection program? Do you have spontaneous surprises for your best customers?
If you are looking to improve how many referrals you generate each month then let’s set-up a quick chat to see how I can help you.
Great story! Made me laugh. You would make a great writer with a “Daddy Blog”. Many men who have taken on the very important task of primary caretakers of children could really relate. Raising a child is a noble and very fulfilling thing to do. Many people don’t completely understand the true value of this. I admire anyone who runs a family/household well. LA