Today's message is perhaps the most profound and perplexing of all human endeavors.
Service.
Service is the delivery of value, benefits and ultimately who you are for the betterment of others.
Why do it?
Why give away a portion of your supply, resource and time to benefit others?
In business a typical transaction is "quid pro quo", aka "this for that." What would happen if our business was truly about creating value for others? How would that change the way you did business?
Perceived value can make us "feel good" real value will transform our life. Service is the key to delivering real value. In business and in life, real value transcends hype, temporary feel goods and seductive promises.
With an attitude of service, we choose in a conscious way to deliver real value to each other, to our clients and to the world in general. Real value makes the world a better place for you and for me and the entire human race.
Making a profit without delivering actual value is a soulless and empty proposition. In the most fundamental sense, Profit is your reward for taking a risk to deliver value to customer.
Profit = Revenue - Expenses.
A simple equation from the financial end. A convenient way to keep score. Profit is good. It drives the economic engine.
Paradoxical profit is better.
The revenue driver is service first. You give not to get, you give to share from your bounty. You give to share from your abundance. You create value by giving value away. You give not specifically to get, you give specifically to make the world in your own unique way a better place. To make the lives of people in your sphere of influence better, not bitter.
Service first delivers real value to others who are looking for the unique solution that is you.
Mike Litman, a very savvy business developer has observed, "You are the solution for a thousand people!" Our unique set of experiences, talents, skills and way of being in the world form the core of our personal value proposition. In this new way of looking at the core business equation defining profit, marketing is transformed from an expense to a profit driver. Give and it shall be given.
The key is create a "value delivery model" that puts service first.
This means we give away a portion of our wisdom, abundance and knowledge in service to others. The new profit model expands marketing from a process of simply finding qualified buyers to an "a priori" means to delivering value first. It is paradoxical adjunct to typical marketing strategies that look at potential customers with a filter to find the "golden buyers" in the amorphous landscape of potential buyers for your product or service.
The new golden rule is the same as the old golden rule, "Give and it shall be given." A slightly different way to look at "Do unto others" but the essential idea is there, give. An attitude of service is the key to transforming your personal and business mind from "giving to get" to " giving to give."
The paradox is both poignant and prescient. Giving is good for you..and good for your business.
A wonderful post. You've expressed so well what I've often struggled to articulate in my business. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou are a most amazing writer. Clear, concise, direct, to the point (ok, that is redundant :)), and you say it like it is. I read your post knowing that this is the reason for the current fall of certain types of businesses. Thank you for your clarity, wisdom, and determination to share. Much love to you in your endeavors. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Wendi! My mother would never believe that I write with great clarity. Much appreciated. Will continue the journey to clarity. Hope you will be along for the ride.:)
ReplyDeleteKen
This is how I've always tried to run my business. It goes against what others in my profession believe, but makes sleeping at night a lot easier.
ReplyDeleteAngela