Fundamental of the Week #8: Service is 360

We serve each other, our customers, and ourselves when we serve the community. Demonstrate making a difference.

Last weeks’ fundamental #7: Always Serve the Customer addressed our belief that when you are in business to serve, your business has a greater opportunity to flourish than if you are in it for personal gain. This week I want to expand that scope.  It’s difficult to authentically be about service if you focus simply on your buying market. What about the people who are part of your organization and with whom the customer’s experience is born? There are sufficient studies to support that the customer experience is a reflection of the experience of those who work in the organization. If working for you is a positive experience your customers will reflect that and if being part of your organization is not positive it will likewise reflect in how the customer sees you.Now, looking beyond your people and your organization, what about the people who supply your needs and then the community as a whole? How do they relate to you as a customer or as a member of the community? Do you treat them as suppliers or do you relate to them as partners in making your business thrive? Do you pay back to the community consistent with the health of your business? The kind of service or community regard you get will be reflected in that answer.  How they talk about you will be reflected in the answer.Our business is largely a referral-based business. I like to think that why so much of our business comes from referrals is a function of how we treat each other, our suppliers, and our customers, and what kind of neighbors we are.  We have gotten business from all of those sources. Underneath this whole fundamental and the preceding one is a foundational view on life. Essentially, we want to serve. The more successful we are in our business, the more we can serve customers, the people who work for us, the people who supply us and beyond to the community we live in.It is a recognition there is nothing we do that does not get done in a network of people. We are part of the network. How we behave in the network impacts the vibrancy and efficacy of the network. In the end, being in business to serve is a discipline of value, not a strategy.As Gandhi said “the best way to find yourself is in the service of others.”Craig ClarkFounder and CEO,Momentum Consulting, Inc