Why Leading With Empathy is a Great Business Strategy
Starting a business is risky, uncertain, uncomfortable, and sometimes scary.
So self-management is part of the entrepreneurial journey. Learning to deal with discomfort, risk, and uncertainty is critical for an entrepreneur.
We knew this going in.
As entrepreneurs, we show up and take responsibility for ourselves.
- We set our own schedule
- We prioritize our own work
- We motivate ourselves to do it
- We learn to deal with the emotional ups and downs
- We bear the weight of the possibility of failure
But that means we also enjoy the wins. The highs that come when we close a deal. When we reach a new level in our business.
It can be an emotional rollercoaster.
If you’re in the business of serving other businesses, realize that your customers are on the same emotional rollercoaster.
You never know what’s going on in someones’ business and life when they first come to you for help.
They might be:
- Worried about making ends meet
- Dealing with a major setback
- In debt
Those fears and anxieties add to their level of discomfort.
As you learn to deal with your own discomfort caused by the uncertainties of business, you realize everyone else is dealing with the same thing.
Being exceptional isn’t just about the work you do.
It’s not strictly about the service.
I’ve already written about the importance of knowing your customer. But a big part of what makes a business exceptional is how it makes its customers feel.
Helping ease their discomfort is one of the things that makes your business exceptional.
Before someone’s familiar with the experience of working with you; they have doubts. They don’t know you yet.
If you’re great at what you do, can prove it, or find another way to help set prospects’ minds at ease; that goes a long way towards easing their discomfort.
And it literally helps improve their lives. Even if only in a small way.
You owe it to your customers to do everything you possibly can to make their experience exceptional.
And helping ease your customers’ discomfort isn’t just a lofty ideal. It relates to the sale. Or more specifically; it’s critical to keeping a customer once you’ve closed them.
Harry Beckwith writes in Selling The Invisible; when your prospect says yes, you still haven’t earned their business. You’ve only earned the opportunity to earn their business.
Their business is still yours to lose. They’ve assumed all the risk upfront. And now you have to prove you’re worth maintaining a business relationship with.
By being great at what you do, being able to communicate that fact, and building a reputation for providing exceptional service, you’re providing so much more.
You’re being empathetic. You’re easing your customers’ discomfort. You’re helping remove a little bit of stress from their lives.
And that’s NOT a small thing.
Oh, and in case you haven’t noticed, it’s also great for business.
Because when people like you; they tell their friends!
Originally published at https://thefrontera.agency on April 8, 2022.
