RISE, A Modern Guide for the Purpose Driven Woman Summer 2014 | Page 10

model would be to get people to pay
you for doing nothing. Don’t laugh, I
bet you know a business or two you
might accuse of this very trait. If so,
you make my point; these are not the
businesses you admire or the ones
you want to work with in the future.
As a customer, you hire a business
to provide a good or service that has
value to you. If the business consistently provides that value, it continues to exist. If it doesn’t provide that
value, it does not survive.
The relationship between a business
and its customers is like the relationship between human beings. A
certain amount of trust is involved.
The stronger the trust, the better the
relationship, and in the case of a business, the more successful the organization.
Anyone who has been in a relationship knows trust is a tricky business.
Trust is akin to taking a leap without seeing what you are jumping
into. There’s a point where you put
yourself in the hands of another. It
can be scary. But when your trust is
returned, it can be one of the more
gratifying experiences in life.
Business relationships carry a special
element to this trust relationship.
Almost always the business, which
is the supplier of goods and services,
knows far more about those goods
and services than the customer.
There is a knowledge gap between
the supplier and customer. Indeed,
that’s usually why a customer hires
the business in the first place: it has
an expertise that the customer does
not have.
It is how a business handles this
knowledge gap that distinguishes a
good business from a bad one. I believe this is the fundamental measure
we should use to determine if a business is good. Not profit.

Let me give you an example. I have
run a neighborhood pool for the last
four years. Here are some fun facts
about pools that make this a daily
adventure. One, pools are dangerous.
Two, there are pages and pages of
state laws that we must comply with
to be safe. Three, there is complex
equipment lurking in the equipment room: filters and heaters and
pumps, and chemical controllers,
and . . . I could go on. Four, I’m and
accountant, Jim, not a pool expert,
and I have little idea how any of those
machines work.
This is an environment ripe for exploitation. The company that services
my pool knows far more about pools
than I do. Indeed, that’s why I hired
them. The pool experts could tell me
every piece of equipment is busted
and needs to be replaced. How would
I know? They could give me a song
and dance about how this whatchamajigger could blow up and injure
children. They could easily scare me
into hiring them to fix every little
thing they tell me is wrong. And I
would probably do it. They could
make a bundle of money off of us.
Much of it unnecessary. And I would
blow my budget. And have to raise
homeowner dues in the neighborhood. And get everyone in the hood
mad at me because I don’t know the
difference between a sand filter and a
sand turtle.

When I found myself in this exact situation, the company did not
exploit my lack of knowledge. They
explained the problems we had, and
they prioritized the repairs so that I
could choose what matched my budget and still keep the pool safe. And
when the work we did agree to came
in at a higher cost than they quoted,
they didn’t even charge me extra.
That one generous gesture was hugely
significant in building trust between
us.
It was the start of a solid business relationship. On a daily basis they work
with me to keep the pool safe and
healthy. They explain problems and
give me options to handle them. They
tell me how much repairs will cost
and then stick to their word. They listen to me and treat me with respect.
In short, they have earned my trust.
And my loyalty. And my continued
business.
But this relationship is not a one-way
street. I as the customer have a job
too. It is my job to communicate what
my needs are. It is my job to make it
easy for them to do their job. I make
sure to remove all the small problems
so they can focus on the important
ones. I provide them with the information they need to solve problems.
And importantly, I treat them with
respect. A business is not a servant
to be abused. It is a partner you work
with to achieve a goal.

“The key is not to worry about being
successful, but to instead work toward
being significant–and the success will
naturally follow.”

Oprah Winfrey