Every four years we get the gift of time--an entire extra day. What did you do with this most precious gift of your life? Before I tell you want happened on my Bonus Day 2008, I want to ask you this:
How many times do you say "I don't have time"?
How many time do you hear your customer say the reason they do not engage with you is "no time"?
Today, everyone got the time they are begging for. What you did with that extra day may say more about your commitment to your customers than all of your rhetoric and blog posts.
My choice was profound. Maybe you ought to try it. I devoted the entire day to "Appreciation of Abundance," my customer commitment that started with the first day of 2008. I took a good customer for 6 years to lunch and just celebrated our abundance. The conversation shifted, for this one day in our relationship, to a total focus on all of the reasons why my firm and me, personally, appreciate this relationship and the abundance of talent, ideas, achievements and learning we have both experienced, because of this customer. As super busy as this executive always is, he took near 3 hours out of his day, just for that lunch and the conversation--all about appreciation.
On the one day a week, I do this three times --three customers. A celebration with each. So I'm really taking the whole day for this and each customer is probably taking more time for the Appreciation of Abundance than they ever have done, except for Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
Feb. 29th was a great day to do this, but this actually started the first week of January. Here's the epiphany that came right after my last blog (when the ball dropped in Times Square). I realized life is really short and I can continue working 60 hours a week Monday through Saturday and still take one day of the "normal work week"--like every Thursday, off, just for the Appreciation of Abundance. The customers who see us every day get the benefit of our appreciation constantly. That's why we went to our VIP list of clients who have retained us for years but are currently not paying us a nickle, and invited them to a day of Appreciation of Abundance.
When I made this resolution, we didn't know the stock market was going to tank, starting with the first week of January and doing the deep dive daily. Today, the worst day of all saw the market drop more than 350 points! Now it seems totally amazing that we are emphasizing abundance in a time when too many are fearful and pulling back on marketing efforts and budgets.
Guess what? The response to our invitation to "just take the time for one day to celebrate abundance and our appreciation for all that we know and share" has been beyond imagination. Do you suppose the human spirit and leadership qualities in our customers tell them this downturn is not forever and appreciating abundance is a way to look at the world differently while many others stop making bold decisions and stop innovating?
I suppose we could have done this any time over the past 25 years. But working 70 hours a week is what owners of smaller businesses (50 employees or fewer) do to remain strong and visible in their business and community. Cutting back to 60 hours seemed severe.
This is going so well that we might not wait until 2009 to see what happens if we cut back to 50 hours and devote two days every week to the Appreciation of Abundance with our customers and best prospects.
What a great idea and post. I wished I'd seen it 'back then'. I guess I was too busy...It's something I'll use moving forward though.
Thanks.
Posted by: zane | April 01, 2008 at 10:39 AM