Don’t give them WHAT; serve them WHO
By Tim Kolodziej
EnspireU
If you’re a small-business owner, what does it REALLY mean to serve others? That’s a big question, for sure, but let’s try to answer it anyway. On the surface, it may look something like this:
For the fitness trainer: To sculpt healthy and functional bodies.
For the online course instructor: Using curriculum and various illustrations to unlock the potential of a mind.
For the restaurant or coffee shop owner: To delight our customers with the finest food and drink.
For the stylist or salon owner: To enhance the attractiveness of our clients.
For the counselor: To bring hope, healing and comfort to an often chaotic world.
It’s pretty clear, isn’t it? There are many, many ways we can serve our fellow human beings. Each of us has been gifted uniquely to share what we know, express what we love to do, and find joy in seeing others grow and excel.
And while it seems our potential clients are looking for many different things as well, there is one common theme — and it’s quite powerful: “I need something. Can you help me?”
In essence, they really don’t want to know WHAT we can do. They want to know HOW we can make them feel … and WHO we can help them become.
Harvard marketing professor Theodore Levitt offers a brilliant insight using the simple example of a drill bit. “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill bit. They want a quarter-inch hole.”
Seth Godin drills even deeper in his book, “This is Marketing”:
“The lesson is that the drill bit is merely a feature, a means to an end, but what people truly want is the hole that it makes. But that doesn’t go far enough. No one wants a hole.
What people want is the shelf that will go on the wall once they drill the hole. Actually, what they want is how they’ll feel once they see how uncluttered everything is, when they put their stuff on the shelf that went on the wall, now that there’s a quarter-inch hole.
But wait …
They also want the satisfaction of knowing they did it themselves. Or perhaps the increase in status they’ll get when their spouse admires their work. Or the peace of mind that comes from knowing that the bedroom isn’t a mess, and that it feels safe and clean.
People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill bit. They want to feel safe and respected.”
***
Our takeaway: The most successful entrepreneurs and business owners really don’t provide a WHAT. Instead, they use their businesses as a platform to help us become WHO we long to become. So let’s return to our question: What does it mean to REALLY serve others?
Fitness trainer … delivers confidence.
Online course instructor … gives us hope for the future.
Restaurant or coffee shop … brings us connection.
Stylist or salon owner … make us worthy of attention.
The counselor … Allows us to feel loved and heard.
“If you can bring someone belonging, connection, peace of mind, status, or one of the other most desired emotions,” Godin concludes, “you’ve done something worthwhile.”
I think we’ve got our answer.
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