Service Mindset

In one of my favorite books on business, Thou Shall Prosper, Daniel Lappin describes what can make you extremely successful in business and life, that is having the mindset of a servant.  When you view your role, in anything you do, as a servant, things will just click into place.

Think about it.  If you are a servant to your customer, they will be well taken care of.  If you are a servant to your employees, they will be dedicated and loyal to a shared mission.  If you are taking care of your spouse, he/she will feel appreciated.

In all Areas of Life we Should Strive to Serve Others

Businesses who are greedy and focus solely on profit and process will never last.  Having an attitude of hubris born of previous success also will cause businesses to fail.  There are great books on that topic including How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins.

How Service Helps Loyalty

Recently my wife and I retuned from a trip on a Saturday night to find our AC had failed.  We are not sure when exactly because we were gone for a week.  But at 12:30 in the morning we came home to a house that was 85 degrees and blowing humid air.  Did I mention we also have four kids including a three month old baby?  Not an ideal situation.

We knew that we needed to replace the unit, but that process takes a couple of days and can't be started on a Sunday.  We reached out to local HVAC company to purchase the new unit.  They were able to shuffle the installation schedule to make us a priority because we didn't have any AC.  The sales rep also came out and personally rigged the unit up the day before, at no cost, to work for 24 hours until they could get the install started.  This is defiantly going above and beyond!

Do you think the next time we need HVAC help we would call anyone else?  Of course not.  Because they showed us that service, meaning serving their customer, is their top priority.  Money is secondary.  But when you service the client, the money takes care of itself.

Your Daily Goal

Start everyday with a servants mentality.  Look for ways to serve those around you.  Do this everyday and when it becomes a habit, your business will thrive.