The people you serve determine the value you bring.
The owners of a growing company didn’t appreciate the greatest value they brought their customers. Surprisingly, it wasn’t their products and services.
Their best customers said:
- They understand us and our business.
- They take the time to understand the way we do things.
- I want to hear their recommendations because I feel like they understand us.
- I know I can trust them because they didn’t try to sell me the most expensive product.
The owners didn’t realize:
I asked the owners to predict what customers said when I asked about their greatest value. They couldn’t predict it. When I told them the first thing their customers said was, “I feel like they understand our business.” A light came on.
They thought they were delivering products and services.
More importantly, they were making people feel understood.
Permission to play and beyond:
Great products and services are permission to play. It doesn’t matter how well you understand your customers if you deliver lousy products.
What happens beyond permission to play matters most.
Point of success:
Your point of success goes beyond products and services. Success is always about unexpected value; never what you get, always what you give.
Power of clarity:
Benefits of understanding your greatest value:
- Affirming what you do right. You may not realize your greatest value because you do it unconsciously.
- Developing skills that enhance your ability to deliver your greatest value. The company I dealt with more fully appreciates the power of curiosity and compassion. Something they already possessed but now can enhance.
- Hiring criteria. Hire people who deliver your greatest value.
- Stopping behaviors that diminish your greatest value.
You may not realize your greatest value as an organization or individual. The people you serve know.
How have you been surprised at the value you brought others?
How has knowing your greatest value changed the way you lead?
