The Discipline of Serving

Photo by ocean.flynn on Flickr

Be An Intrepid Marketer – Recommendation No. 29

I was jointly conducting a workshop this weekend, where the topic of networking was front and center. A main theme throughout the workshop, when talking about both face-to-face networking and social media – is giving value first.

By this I mean thinking about others first. Putting yourself in the servant’s heart mindset first. The last thing you should really focus on? Selling.

[I promise, serving first will result in new business...]

The main point of this post is to tell you that you have to change your thinking, change your discipline, and force yourself into a mindset where you are always looking for ways to help and serve people.

You have to LISTEN to people, and identify opportunities to help people, whether that is sending them a referral, sending them an article or blog post on something they will find useful, or whether you can connect them with someone who will be important for them to know.

But…

If you are in a selling mindset, you just don’t see these opportunities. And trust me, we all fall into this. You have to discipline yourself to change your mindset into that of a servant, and once you do, you will see countless ways to help people.

Discipline yourself to do this, and you will see good karma come back to you, big time!

Be Intrepid.

Tagged as: #beintrepid, Atlanta Marketing, Cobb County Georgia, Sales, Social Networking

http://www.kokorographix.com Havana

I am so glad I worked as a waitress for some time before I started my own business. I think all business owners should be servers as some point in their life!

It’s humbling (read: you’re treated like CRAP LOL ) but it makes you put your customer first. You must train yourself to be there for their every whim, if you want to do your job right (and get that tip). You have to work under pressure and balance multiple tasks. You have to remember each of your customers. You have to be willing to set your ego aside, yet be friendly and polite.

It’s extreme, but it trains you to listen and serve others. If you want to train yourself to do this, be a waiter.
Todd Schnick

You know, that’s great advice Havana. My father always told me that if you want to run a certain kind of business, you need to work in that field first. And there is probably no better training to deal with customers than being a waiter.

Key thing is to think about your customer while making EVERY decision in your business. “How is this going to affect my customer?”

Thanks for your contribution!
Blake Jorgensen

Todd makes a great point. I spent 6 years off and on as a waiter/bartender, and it really gives perspective in how you deal with difficult customers. In my work in sales, it doesn’t matter whether a client is spending little or a lot with my company, because good service will always yield good word of mouth referrals. Isn’t that the whole point afterall?
Todd Schnick

Yes, Blake. That is the point! And that small piece of business can grow to larger business, or that referral. You just never know…

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