The Magic
Using our gifts to serve brings us fulfillment and significance. No matter if you are an artist, philosopher, photographer, designer, landscaper, furniture maker, or bicycle mechanic, how you execute is just as important as what we do. Skillful execution is where the magic happens.
On the other hand, poor execution can tarnish a quality product. Who hasn’t experienced these things: Your order was lost, the order was wrong, you had to wait even longer to get your order fixed, they overcharged, the wait was longer than necessary, or you were served without care or appreciation. Sometimes it's all of the above! And unlike the Terminator, you won't be back.
These are all execution problems. And execution is where simple things fall apart.
If we desire to serve, and do it in a way that is deeply fulfilling, the key is to execute well. The result is a magical experience.
The Experience
How do we execute well? The key is to identify every customer touchpoint and ensure we deliver what is expected.
For example:
How do potential customers find you?
How do they understand your services?
How do they request your service?
How do you deliver your service?
How do you maintain the relationship?
How do you know the customer's experience through the whole process?
The key is:
Think about the expectations of the person you are serving.
Define what it means to execute well.
Make execution part of your product or service.
Execution is not about being perfect. Things will go wrong! But if we truly care about the people we serve, we can find ways to turn any negative experience into a positive. We do this by making execution part of how we serve.
The Mindset
If we have the mindset that we are delivering an experience as well as a service, we will be more aware of the areas we can improve.
We never think of the people we serve as a one time transaction. Once we get to serve someone we are in that person's memory forever. If it’s a good memory, they are highly likely to return, recommend, or talk about their experience. One customer can bring your business much profit through repeat visits. Sadly, I often see businesses willing to lose good customers by making careless mistakes or offering excuses. In their mind there is always another customer. Treating the people we serve as a one-time transaction is not a servant mindset.
Each customer is valuable. But each customer also represents a tree of relationships - they have relatives, friends, co-workers, and connections with businesses and organizations. If we execute well, and prove to be trustworthy, the people we serve become our advocates. I don't say this to promote greed! We just need to be aware of the reality of connectedness. For example, we have only required the services of our realtor to buy one house. However, we have referred her to our friends. So far, our realtor has earned four commissions through us (so far)! All we did was tell our friends about our real estate agent.
We want to value each customer, client, or patron. But we can’t please everyone, and we don’t try to. That’s why we serve a group of people we care about. If we try diligently, but can’t please someone, then they are simply not our people. And that’s perfectly fine.
Finally
You are the expert at what you do. You use your talents to serve others. But to execute well we need to develop our execution skills. Our talents might be natural, but execution will take effort. Execution is where the magic happens.
No matter if you are an artist, philosopher, photographer, designer, landscaper, or bicycle mechanic, how we execute is just as important as what we do. Make execution part of your product or service.
Part V
There is a fifth part to following your dream, doing what you believe in, serving people you care about, and knowing your business. But I will leave that for next week.
You can read previous posts here: Part I, Part II, Part III.
To your success!
"No one can compete with you on being you, and most of life is a search for who and what needs you the most." —Naval Ravikant
What is your dream?
My dream is to write small but powerful books that simplify success, and plant them like seeds.
My first book is "How to Build a Foundation for your Dreams." You can read it FREE at www.jamesonsuccess.com/books.