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“Gentlemen, I take it we are all in complete agreement on the decision here. Then, I propose we postpone further discussion of this matter until the next meeting to give ourselves time to develop disagreement, and perhaps gain some understanding of what the decision is all about.”  -Alfred P. Sloan

Our culture hates disagreement. We jump on it like a chicken on a June bug. We’re dug in and completely intolerant of opposing viewpoints. While simultaneously advocating complete acceptance and tolerance. It’s puzzling to me. But I’m a dot connector always trying to make sense of things. Even things that make no sense! 😉 

It’s not just politics. It’s just about anything and everything. That’s only important because it creeps into our companies. We acclimate ourselves to culture and society. Unless we intentionally decide we’re going to do what’s best for us, even if a culture doesn’t agree. 

We learn to play nice with others. To be agreeable as much as possible. To avoid conflict. 

All bad things. 

Conformity is nice. Comfortable. Convenient. Peaceful. 

Blind conformity is even better. Just fall in line. Don’t rock the boat. Don’t ask any questions. Say, “Yes, ma’am” and “Yes, sir.” 

Somewhere along the way, it seems people began to confuse compliance with respect. It’s evidenced by the woeful lack of respectful disagreement. RESPECTFUL disagreement.

That doesn’t mean we begin our rebuttal with, “I respectfully disagree.” It means we practice respect first. And if or when we disagree, then we do it respectfully. 

Interpersonal skills are important. Often times they’re missing because some people struggle with awareness and emotional intelligence. I get it. We’ve all got different personalities, preferences, and styles. But I don’t get is a lack of respect up and down any chain of command within an organization. I would hope your momma and daddy taught you better. 

With that, let’s talk about how we can foster disagreement and maintain (or foster even higher) respect. 

For starters, as the owner or leader, you’ve got to commit to it. If you don’t see the value in it, then it won’t happen. There is so much discussion about working toward consensus, getting buy-in and having folks pull together. Those are important things, but I fear we’ve let them overshadow some of the benefits of the process to create those things.

I don’t know your physical fitness, but let’s assume you could benefit from getting into better shape. You hire a personal trainer and report to the gym for your first workout. Your body isn’t going to happily accept the challenge. All parts of your body, including your brain, are going to be screaming for you to quit. You have to push through all that knowing that on the other side of your continuous workouts will be improved fitness. Along the way, you’ll experience pain, dread, fear, embarrassment and a host of other feelings. The resistance is beneficial. It improves your resolve and determination. 

Similar things happen inside an organization if the leader fosters them. All eyes and ears are on you. It’s important that you resolve in your mind how valuable disagreement and debate can be. Before you have some knee-jerk negative reaction to all this, let’s clarify that this can look any way you want it to look. The key thing is to avoid exploring innovative, creative solutions. And to question things respectfully so your company can better seize opportunities and better solve challenges. 

Respect is the foundation and an open mind is the framing of the house of effective disagreement. If you, or any member of your team, believes “I’m the smartest person here” and operate from that perspective, then positive disagreement won’t happen. Closed minds are the enemy of growing great. How you choose to hire, train and fire have a big impact on the open-mindedness of your culture. Handle it carefully and intentionally. 

Remember, I’m not suggesting that you operate with strife. Strife isn’t productive. It’s contentious, often anger-filled. Disagreement and debate are respectful, passionate and enthusiastic. They produce innovation and creativity. And they don’t sabotage agreed upon strategies. They’re not self-centered or selfish. They surrender to the good of the organization, seeking to bring the highest value possible to the desired outcome.

Time and place are important. Always. When people are working together this is always true. All of us have to work harder to become more aware of each other and to behave in ways that show respect, not just as people, but as teammates capable of contributing to the desired outcome. We’re all capable of making a positive impact. We’re also capable of making a negative impact. It’s urgent for everybody to avoid creating a problem, or making things worse. 

You foster disagreement like Alfred Sloan was able to do in those early days of General Motors. You can be bold and ask for it. You can play the devil’s advocate. There’s any number of strategies you could utiltize to foster it, but as with so many things you hear me say  – “you’ll figure it out.” I want to encourage you to do that, figure it out. 

I’ll leave you with a few things I’ve learned over the years to see if they might spark some creative juices for you.

Challenge the people who make the suggestion (and work to sell it) to disagree with it, too. It can be quite effective to have people flip positions themselves. It can force people to approach it from the opposite and opposing viewpoint. 

Create an environment where suggestions get challenged by the entire group. Do this by fostering questions that help the entire group better understand the situation and the suggestion. Don’t make it an intense interrogation. Rather, make it an exercise whose aim is to help the group better understand. This will help each member of the team learn to think more clearly and to expresss themselves more clearly, too.

Put “why?” at the forefront of the discussion. People are driven to know and understand why. As the leader, it’s important that your people understand why things are decided and why certain actions are taken. Make “why?” an elephant in the room. Use that to challenge suggestions and show your people to follow suit among themselves. 

Listen. Watch. Keep your mouth shut more. Be more reluctant to show your cards. Let the group take charge of the discussion. It’s probable that you’ll find your team engaging in respectful debate if you’ll just let the room breathe, and not interfere. As much as you can, hold your peace. And if people get worked up and passionate, tread carefully in inserting yourself. Enthusiasm doesn’t gender strife. Don’t tolerate personal attacks or disrespectful behavior, but don’t be too quick to jump on an animated conversation. That’s precisely what you want to foster. You want people to care deeply about what they’re discussing and deciding.

Lastly, compliment vigorous dialogue and disagreement. Compliment the entire group, not merely those who others may view as contrarians. This isn’t about people always disagreeing with anything and everything. It’s about disagreement with a reason – a reason that must be expressed and understood by the group. It’s about fostering people’s passions, enthusiastic beliefs, and convictions. Make sure everybody keeps the goal in view – to generate the best ideas, best solutions and best decisions possible. Nothing else matters!

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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Yesterday we talked about hiring so it’s fitting that we’ll end the week today talking about firing. Terminating employment is a tough subject for many leaders and business owners. I certainly don’t propose to make it enjoyable or pleasant. These are lives being impacted. The employee. Their family. Their co-workers. And then there’s our reputation. What will the organization think of us? What damage might we create? Many thoughts and worries swirl around in our heads.

Right off the bat let’s set aside some basic non-negotiables. That is, there are some things that will prompt a termination and it’s just how it has to be. Period. No room for negotiation or discussion once the facts have been established. That’s an important detail — we have to establish facts and know the truth of a situation. Theft, criminal behavior, sexual harassment, drug or alcohol use on the job (sort of fits in criminal behavior, but you’ll have to determine your policy), violence in the workplace…maybe you’ve got some additional ones. I know business owners who will negotiate these depending on the severity of the infraction. Let’s say a couple of warehouse employees get into a fist fight, but nobody is hurt. Some leaders will keep one or both employees and put them on probation. Others will fire the employee who threw the first punch. So to declare these “non-negotiables” as black and white isn’t quite how it rolls. You have to decide how you’re going to operate your company. But for today’s show, I’m not talking about any of these kinds of behaviors. I’m going to narrow it to performance. Just how well are they doing their job? That’s it.

Clear expectations, clear and prompt feedback followed by support, support, support!

Every employee terminated for poor performance should see it coming. 

It’s inexcusable for a leader to fire an employee who never saw it coming. That means there hasn’t been nearly enough clear, candid communication. 

At the first sign that things are going well, the employee must be informed. Speed and timeliness are important. We can’t correct our children if we wait a week after seeing them misbehave, then we try to correct them. No, we have to do it in the moment. In real time. You must do the same thing. Sooner is always better.

Let’s suppose you’ve got an employee with attendance issues. Yes, that’s a performance issue. Not being at work when they’re scheduled is poor performance. As soon as you sense there *may* be a problem, take action. Have a conversation with them. There’s no reason to avoid having a conversation. 

Sit down with them and express your concern. Be respectful. Don’t draw a conclusion. Seek to find out what’s going on. Listen. Ask questions. 

You may find out something is going on that you knew nothing about. It may be something you can help the employee solve. Or it may be something they alone have to handle. 

Figure that out with them. Reiterate the importance of them doing their job well. Reinforce your expectation that they succeed. And your commitment to helping them. But put the proper amount of the burden on their decision and action to make it so. 

I’m a fan of documentation. Not for being formal, but for making things as clear as possible. I hate ambiguity and confusion. So I’m prone to write up and document what’s happening and having the employee sign it. If the documentation is based on the mutual understanding of the dialogue, then there’s no reason for the employee to feel uneasy signing it. It should include a clear outline of the actions you both agree to take. The conversation should end with you both committing to move forward and resolving the issue. If the employee won’t commit to that, you may as well ask them to resign or push forward to end the relationship (yes, consult your state laws and your HR or legal professional).

Hopefully, both of you can agree to give it the effort it deserves. You or somebody you entrusted hired this person, seeing something valuable in them. Let’s put in the work to achieve success. 

Now, the employee knows the problem. You understand the problem. We’re all together on what has to happen for success to be achieved. We all know what success will look like, and what failure will look like. And we know when we’ll sit down together again to formally discuss this. 

There’ll be feedback all along the way as necessary, but within 30 days or so another sit-down conversation happens to access any progress. If the employee’s performance improves, mission accomplished. If it doesn’t, then it’s time to impress the gravity of the situation. Talk about what has worked, and what hasn’t. Together figure out why things aren’t succeeding. Discuss what must happen in order for this employee to continue being on the team. Be clear. Again, make it clear about what you (the leadership) will do. You’re making a commitment to serve this employee and help them. Make it clear what they must do. Get them to commit to it. 

Document the meeting. This will be your first or if you roll the way I do, your second documentation. Employees only feel like you’re building a case against them if they’re failing. And if they’re failing, they’re right. You are. But the goal should be to avoid failure. You can’t live people’s lives for them though. Your employees have to make up their own mind and choose their own behavior. Your role is to provide support, service, training, feedback, and accountability. 

I’ve never practiced issuing the third documentation. My preference has been to be very clear in the second meeting that the next time we meet it will be to congratulate them on turning things around, or it’ll be to part ways. But I assure them conversations will be forthcoming along the way so we’re both clear on which direction things are headed. I want no confusion or blind-siding. It’s unfair when we’re terminating employees for performance failures. 

Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes you make a good hire, and other times you quickly realize you got it wrong. The key to firing people worthy of being fired is to do it fast. There’s too much at stake to put it off. You’ll kill the morale of high performers. You’ll foster bitterness in the employee who has it coming. There’s just nothing good that can come from putting off terminating a poor performer. 

I’m a dog lover. In fact, I’m part of a board of advisors for the Westie Foundation of America, a non-profit dedicated to the promotion of the health of White West Highland Terriers. Sadly, I’ve had to put a few dogs down. Years ago when I first had to do it, I didn’t do it quickly enough. I learned from it. I vowed that it was selfish to wait so long. So I never did it again. Better to do it too soon. I feel the same way about firing poor performers. Delay serves no useful purpose. And mostly it’s done because we’re cowards, hoping to avoid the confrontation. Don’t view it like that. It’s an opportunity for you both to end a relationship that clearly isn’t working for either you. Time for them to find a better home. Time for you to operate a better home. It’s an opportunity for you both to grow, learn and improve. 

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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Education and credentials might matter. But for most of us, they’re mostly overrated. 

My son-in-law is a master chemist with a global company. His level of knowledge in science and math is vital to his work. It’s not a “we’ll show you what you need to know” kind of a career. I’ve got friends who are attorneys, doctors or other professionals where licensing is required. Education and credentials are mandatory. Without them, you can’t legally perform the work. 

Most of us own and operate companies that don’t have such requirements. Scroll past Indeed or Linkedin and you’ll see a variety of “requirements” for jobs that demonstrate many of us are just copying each other, chasing the kind of people we think we need. Basically, it’s quite a lot of follow-the-leader kind of behavior. And for good reason. We’ve been steeped into “benchmarking” for as long as I can remember. Copying each other. Chasing some idealized version of what ought to be. 

It’s colossally stupid. It kills creativity, innovation, and curiosity. 

A payment processing company is looking for a VP of Sales with at least 3 years of online payment processing experience. Maybe that’s smart. Maybe not. My question is simple, “Why?”

If I find a dynamite sales leader (and manager), but who lacks that qualification, what am I to do? I’ll tell you what I’m going to do if I’m like 95% plus of the businesses out there. I’m going to pass. And you know why? Not because the person wouldn’t be an ideal fit, but because I’m lazy. I’m looking for boxes to check so I can keep moving forward. Or so I can cut somebody out and be finished with them. 

Trying to speed up the hiring process is killing many businesses. 

I’m a speed freak, but yesterday we talked about culture – particularly a culture of accountability. If you care about your culture then you should protect it vigorously. That means you don’t let just anybody enter your organization. You take whatever time you need to properly vet candidates. But the word “properly” is up for big debate. 

Does properly mean you form a checklist, making it so comprehensive that you know it’ll narrow the field and make things easier for you? Does properly mean you approach it to find the very best person who will add value to your operation, in every way – including your culture? Those are 2 very different goals. You have to determine which one you’re trying to accomplish. Too many are chasing that former with no regard to the latter. 

“College degree, with an emphasis in business.”

“MBA required.”

Why? 

“Five years automotive experience.” (and it’s not for a mechanic; it’s for an executive leadership role)

Why?

One of the most common answers I get when I ask is, “It helps when people understand our industry.” I love it when I get that response. It prompts my next question, “How?” People are often most stymied, by the way, with one-word questions like, “Why?” and “How?” But that’s not my objective – to stymie. I want to understand what they’re thinking, and hoping to accomplish. 

They’ll tell me about the language of the industry. Every industry has these funky terms and abbreviations. Some days I just write down the ones I hear…and the ones I have to ask about because I don’t know them. It’s an industry’s way of ensuring that outsiders don’t get admitted. Like the secret handshake kids might form when they’re 6 before allowing anybody into their clubhouse. It’s equally immature, too. Look around at the terms in your industry. Write down a few. Unless you have zero sense of humor you’ll chuckle before you get 6 of them written down. 

Okay, so the vocabulary is so critical to your business that you must have somebody with industry-specific knowledge, otherwise, they’ll have no idea what’s being said? I can’t tell you how many organizations I’ve walked into where I had no idea what their vocabulary looked like. I’m a bright guy, but I’m not a genius. It won’t take me more than a handful of hours to get it. But you think you need somebody with multiple years inside your space? 

Another common answer I get when I ask about some specific requirement, like an MBA – and I ask, “How is that going to help this person perform at a high level inside your company?” – is steeped in what other people think. The answers can vary, but sometimes it’ll be as generic as “all our leadership team members have MBA’s.” Other times it’ll be, “We believe it lends to greater credibility with the team.” To quote Chris Farley’s SNL motivational speaker character, Matt Foley, “Well, loddy-friggin’ dah!”

Are you seeing the problem yet? 

Cookie cutter. Everybody fits in a mold. Let’s all look the same. Let’s talk the same. Let’s think the same. Let’s continue getting what we’ve always got. 

You’re a smart person. You’ve learned by now that if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten. Right now the Dallas Cowboys are in southern California for training camp. Jerry Jones has said the same thing for over 20 years. He’s optimistic. The team has great character. They’ve got youth. Blah, blah, blah. In 20 years they’ve won a single playoff game. ONE. Two decades of on-the-field failure if you don’t count a winning season where you win more than you lose as a barometer of success. And here in Dallas, the fan base does not count that as a success. We’ve got 30-year-old young people roaming around here who have no memory of the Dallas Cowboys winning a Super Bowl. Financially, the team has done an outstanding job, but where the fans measure success — complete failure.

The reason? Nothing changes. It’s rinse and repeat. Season after season. Same verbiage. Same empty promises. Maybe your company looks much the same. Every year you aim to be better. You talk a big game. But you’re hiring the same folks your competitors are hiring. You’ve benchmarked the same stuff they have. And you think you’re different. How? When everybody in your industry is doing the same thing, the same way, with the same kind of people…how?

I love the industry knowledge argument because it’s so easy to shoot down. I just mention one founder’s name and his company. It goes something like this with me asking what that industry-specific knowledge does for the company. “It’s important that people have a working knowledge of how our industry works. If people don’t understand the nature of our work and our problems, then how will they be able to contribute to making us better?”

Me: “Let me give you the name of one founder and his company.”

Them: “Okay.”

Me: “Jeff Bezos. Amazon.”

The most hardheaded owners will respond, “We’re different.” 

Yeah, right. You’re different than Barnes & Noble, Toys R Us, Kmart, Sears and Yellow Cab. But you know, they’re right. They are different. Different from whom is the question. Different from Amazon and the other winners in the market who aim to hire the best people who will foster curiosity, thoughtful approaches to opportunities and challenges and who will climb in a boat to work with and alongside other people until the job is done. 

Alred P. Sloan famously said it best, “Take my assets — but leave me my organization and in five years I’ll have it all back.” Sloan was the head of GM for many years. His 1963 book, My Years With General Motors, is still a classic. 

In 1925 he said this, “I never give orders. I sell my ideas to my associates if I can. I accept their judgment if they convince me, as they frequently do, that I am wrong. I prefer to appeal to the intelligence of a man rather than attempt to exercise authority over him.” 

Still think those requirements are requirements for your company’s progress and growth? Or do you think you may be able to deploy some creative thinking and new approaches to find people who fit your culture in a way where they can enhance it and add value?

Adding value is the thing. Disrupt your hiring practices before a competitor forces you to.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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Culture and communication continue to be key conversations with business owners and leaders. For good reason. They’re vital in establishing accountability. Every experienced leader knows without accountability there can be no sustainable improvement or growth.

Our growth and improvement individually hinge on our willingness to be accountable to others, and our willingness to let others be accountable to us. This week a local sports talk radio station interviewed retired Dallas Cowboy tight-end Jay Novacek. They were reminiscing about the glory days when Jay played with Troy Aikman, Emmit Smith, and Michael Irvin. Jay said those teams really enjoyed being together. They had good chemistry. It prompted the radio hosts to ask him, “Was the chemistry good because you guys won, or did you guys win because of the chemistry?” Without hesitation, Jay said, “We won because of our chemistry.”

It’s true with sports teams, business or organizational teams. If real estate lives and dies by the motto, “Location, location, location” then our businesses live and die by “culture, culture, culture.” It’s a major distinguishing factor between successful and failing organizations. Cultures aren’t created equally any more than real estate locations. Some are way better than others.

If you don’t begin to create or correct your culture so it incorporates one vital component – ACCOUNTABILITY – then it’s likely that you’ll be in the same spot 5 years from now. The problem is, the market is going to change. And your company may not survive. It’s the high price we’ll all pay for sitting on our butt thinking we’ll somehow get by on our own. 

I can readily tell you that the most underrated characteristic of high achieving businesses and organizations is accountability. CEOs and business owners who shy away from it have no chance of building a culture of accountability. And I know why some shy away from it. They’re afraid. They don’t understand it. They’re ignorant of how great things could be with accountability.

Accountability isn’t a police action. 

You own the joint. I completely understand. But don’t confuse your ownership with some delusional idea that you don’t need accountability in your life, or that your people don’t need it in theirs. 

Culture is a bit different than personal accountability in that you’re the boss, so you dictate the philosophy and principles by which your company operates. If it’s important to you, then it’s going to be important to the company. That’s the influence and power you weld. As it should. 

All the more reason to be careful about the culture you want to create. Don’t be haphazard. Or bashful to show your organization how you’re willing to accept accountability for your role as the Chief Leader, #1. Be willing to be accountable to your entire company. You are anyway. So you may as well embrace it, own it and celebrate it. 

It doesn’t mean that people impose on you. They can’t. Unless you let them. And as a business owner, you’re not likely going to do that. Nor should you. Truth is, nobody can tell you what you ought to do. You can accept input, feedback, and suggestions, but you get to decide for yourself and for the organization. In that regard, accountability isn’t a police action. It’s more of you deciding something, then being willing to have the organization hold you to it. You’re the policeman, but even cops need high accountability because with much authority and responsibility comes elevated accountability if we’re going to perform at the highest levels. 

Accountability isn’t punishment.

Another myth is that accountability is punitive. While it can be, that’s not at the heart of the matter. 

Instead, it’s among the highest levels of service you can offer, or be offered. Don was an alcoholic for almost 20 years. Highly functioning, but still an alcoholic. He admitted that for almost 10 of those years he wanted to stop drinking. He was mostly a closet alcoholic. So he tried everything he knew to get sober on his own. He read books. He educated himself on his affliction. Knowledge didn’t help. And Don quickly realized that lack of knowledge wasn’t his problem. Accountability was. He said to me, “Nobody can get sober alone.” I’m a teetotaler, meaning I don’t drink alcohol at all (never have). But I trust what he tells me about overcoming this challenge. 

Don decided to go to somebody. Somebody he knew he could trust to hold him accountable. Within a short period of time, Don was free from alcohol ruling his life. He’s determined and committed, but so is the person holding him accountable. They’re in it together. Don said he increasingly was driven to not let himself down, but he didn’t want to let down the person working so hard to hold him accountable either. 

It’s been just under 10 years since Don had his last drink. Ask him if accountability is punishment and he’ll quickly correct you by telling you it’s a supreme degree of service. It changed his life. It’ll change everybody’s – or anybody’s life. Yours. Mine. And the people who work for us, too.

Accountability is for all of us. We’re in this together.

If your end of the boat sinks, so does mine. That’s the culture of accountability. It’s the difference maker. Like Don overcoming alcoholism, or a salesperson struggling to achieve success, or an accounting clerk struggling to keep up the workload, accountability is THE service of helping people improve and grow. 

The reason most people don’t grow or improve is largely due to their lack of accountability. Sparked mostly by their unwillingness to submit to being served. Or their unwillingness to serve others. 

Self-improvement is a paradox. It incorrectly presupposes that we can do it for ourselves. All by ourselves. Shockingly, I don’t know a single person who has ever achieved it that way. Every high performing person I’ve ever met has had help. Somebody willing to help hold them accountable for what they want to accomplish. 

Like everything else in your company, it all begins and ends with you, the owner. Look around at how well, or how poorly you’re serving and being served when it comes to accountability. Be honest. Face the truth. If it’s not as impactful or effective as it could be, then set about the change the truth. Get busy building a high accountability culture. And watch the improvement and growth start to happen. 

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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A group of startup sales managers are sitting around swapping stories and sharing experiences. Some of the startups are mere months old while others are a couple of years old. At some point, the conversation turns to pipelines, funnels, ideal prospects, customer acquisition and all the other components of selling. Some of the companies are B2B and others are B2C. It’s your basic shop talk. 

These are good people. Decent performers. Ambitious. Driven. Smart. Capable. 

But they’re doing something they’re not even aware of. They’re dehumanizing their prospects and customers. And it’s another teaching moment for me.

I’ve historically focused on the language salespeople use. Most of my career was spent with commission-based salespeople. I cared about the words they used, even away from the customers, because I knew it had an impact on how prospects and customers were treated. Shop talk among salespeople and sales managers fosters whatever the company allows. 

Words like “pursuit” are frequently used. As in their pursuit of customers. I seize the moment. Not with judgment, but with a point-of-view that I know these quite young sales managers hasn’t considered. 

A lead, an “up,” an avatar – these aren’t words I like. I’m not the semantic police or anything. I know we often use terms just to communicate effectively, but when we’re talking about building a business by getting new customers or serving existing customers better – two-thirds of the trifecta of successful business building – we can incorporate verbiage that doesn’t serve us well. Truth is, sometimes our words create challenges making our task even more difficult. Instead, we should incorporate wording that helps and serves our purpose well. 

You can chase or pursue customers. Like prey. Or victims. 

You’ll be better served – so will your customers – if you woo them instead. 

We woo people we love. People we care about. People we hope to develop a deeper relationship with. Wooing involves getting to know them and allowing them to get to know us. Yes, we have an interest, but we want this to mutually beneficial. 

My grandson Easton loves bugs and lizards. Our yard is filled with plenty of both. Easton will pursue them with a dogged determination. He’s pretty good, too. He catches them more often than not. Mostly because once he spots one, he won’t stop until he successfully captures it. We constantly urge him to release them, but he never wants too until he’s enjoyed putting them into a jar or something where they’re contained. He’s 5 so we’re still teaching him that they’re much happier being free. As a little boy, he’s not terribly concerned about what they might want, or what might be best for them. He wants to see them, watch them and play with them. He’s not interested in hurting them, but he’s not thinking about them. It’s a completely selfish endeavor of a little boy. 

Selling always involves people. Words reflect and form our perspectives. Don’t let anybody tell you words don’t matter! They do. I could approach you and if I knew the right thing to say to make you mad as a wet hen, your temper would flare immediately. My words could offend you, hurt you, disturb you, embarrass you or make you angry. My words could foster all sorts of emotions and energies in you. And garner all kinds of responses or reactions. You know that’s true. 

Keep talking about pursuing or hunting customers and it builds within us an image. We’re prowling for customers. We win at their expense. They’re something for us to conquer and drag back home. The spoils of business war. 

If instead, we busy ourselves evangelizing our products or services, then we hope to convert people. We want to influence people because we know their lives will be better if they can see what we see, and believe what we believe. 

If we passionately woo our customers, then we court them with the desire to get to know them better. And we’re driven to help them better understand and know us, too. We seek a relationship with another person, not something to tick on a sales dashboard so we can hit some KPI. 

Passionately wooing customers is about connecting with another human being. One person at a time. It doesn’t matter if you have a number of stakeholders to satisfy. Each of them are individual people. Woo each one of them and you’ll forge a relationship with all of them. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you make a sale to a group? One person at a time. 

If your language hinders people in your company from viewing customers as real human beings, then take some time to change it. It’s a first step to hitting the first two legs of the successful business building trifecta: getting new customers and serving existing customers better. And it won’t hurt your efforts on that third leg either: not going crazy in the process.

Be enthusiastic and passionate about what you’re able to do for your customers. Deploy that enthusiasm as passion. Let the prospects and customers see and hear it. Woo them. That’s how you’ll win their hearts and their business.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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