It’s time to get more sophisticated about human relationships

If companies want to create atmospheres where customers can feel like complete human beings, people need to be welcomed, not merely tolerated. 

Because there’s nothing more demoralizing than being treated like an inconvenient interruption. As if the customer’s presence was interfering with the receptionist’s ability to do their job.

And yet, it happens every day. Employees treat customers like objects. They get annoyed with our inability to telepathically mind read their bullshit language and rituals. And as a result, we’re made to feel guilty. 

Like when we walk in the door five minutes before closing, or when we use a coupon on the last possible day, or when we return a faulty product, or when we request to stay within a certain budget. 

The cashier stares at us like we have two heads. Like we’ve accidentally mistaken them for someone who cares. 

Friends, the time has come to get more sophisticated about human relationships. The business focus needs to be on truly serving people, instead of merely doing a job for them. 

I spent two years working in guest service at a luxury hotel, and I’m infinitely grateful for that experience. Because it schooled me in compassion. It helped me accept that seriously bad things that happen to everybody, through no fault of their own, and that each customer rests at the nexus of a vast number of interwoven causes and conditions that influence their behavior, most of which are out of their control. 

And so, the last thing people need in that moment is guilt, contempt or condescension. They want care. They want people to say yes to them. They want to be seen and heard and felt. And they want to be treated liked adults. 

That’s sophistication. It’s not complicated, it’s merely calorie intensive.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…  

Are you so wrapped up with your own tasks that you treat customers as obstacles?
LET ME SUGGEST THIS… 

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired.

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