Built To Serve or Built To Sell?
April 29th, 2021 // 11:23 am @ Scott Manning
For us, we have made “selling” very easy. Far too many people complicate it. I don’t know why so much of it feels like tug of war, like you are trying to “take” people’s money.
I hate that “selling” has a connotation like you are tricking or manipulating someone because it’s quite literally the opposite. I suppose there are people who do this and operate in this way. But not here. Not you. Not most.
We’ve changed the idea around “selling” and to me it’s the most powerful and clear objective you could possibly have…
Selling is serving people.
If I’m going to be of service to you, if I’m going to help solve your problems, then I’m going to sell you on whatever it is that can make your life better.
If you know that there is nothing more valuable than what your business can do, then the greatest act of service you can possibly carryout is to sell your customer on it.
It’s no secret that my dentists have it tough, at least on the surface. As I tell them, no one is volunteering to sit in a dental chair for any procedure let alone pay for it. But therein lies the secret – they aren’t paying to be in the chair or even for the procedure – they are paying for the life-changing benefit and value they walk out with.
Do not overlook the questions I laid out last week about every single person in your organization and how they connect to the dollars, to the profits, and most of all to the customer.
The more clarity every single person has on this – beginning with the owner and entrepreneur – the more successful you will be.
Said a different way… many businesses get caught up in the activity over the accomplishment. It erodes profitability and pretty soon your business is struggling.
It’s not about the activities of ‘doing business’ or ‘meeting customers’ or whatever else (including marketing, bookkeeping, human resources, website development, manufacturing, delivery, etc.). It’s about the accomplishment of building a business designed to exchange dollars for customers gaining value by taking what you provide home with them.
What is more fun than that? What is more rewarding than that? What is more significant than that?
To be able to not just have a vision but to create a reality that is your business and then see it all come full circle with you making an impact on your customers’ lives. This is the ultimate motivation and culmination of business success.
There are, as they say, easier ways to make a living. But there are not other ways to make a life and to give money meaning than what you are doing because it is your creation, your business, and your worthy mission.
Take pride in that, in your business, in your people, in your customers, in your experience, in yourself, and in what you have built.
You’ll be amazed how much more easily money moves to you when there is pride of ownership in your business and pride in purpose for what you are ultimately there to accomplish.
Of course, there are those people who have too much pride and they let that get in their way of an honest assessment over their reality, a false sense of security or confidence, oblivious or in denial, or just complacent.
Don’t fall victim to these traps. You can evaluate any initiative by remembering the application of Covey’s four quadrants of time to money and profit and business.
It might be valuable to the mission but have no benefit to the bottom line.
It might be a total distraction and a waste with no value to either.
It might not really enhance the overall objectives but it does have profit implications.
It might be both valuable to the mission and to the revenue.
The trick to business is balancing where you invest your time, energy, focus, and resources. It’s having the discipline, as well as giving yourself permission, to be okay with the reality of your responsibility in your business to be profitable.
Stay steadfast and clear minded on the decisions you make and what good they are doing for all of your overall objectives and the health of your organization.
No business can be successful if it doesn’t find the balance in this. At what point are we focused too much on profit we are suppressing growth? At what point are we focused too much on all other things, including people, we are diminishing profits?
Of course, it’s not just about money – we know that – but it has to always be about the health of the organization. After all, no one is paid with warm and fuzzy feelings. Everyone is showing up for the dollars and therefore it is everyone’s greatest responsibility to work together to find, understand, and stay focused on that elusive balance – beginning with you. If you aren’t the greatest champion of your cause and business success, no one else will be.
There’s a lot here my friends, from pride to focus to balance and everything in between. They are all interrelated and deeply connected. That’s why your greatest work is yet to be done because your business is always under construction – just be sure you are building it with the right blueprint.
Category : Blog
