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Satisfying the Greatest Need

By Barry Maher


Mary Kay Ash of Mary Kay Cosmetics said the secret to her
success was that she treated everyone as if they had an invisible
sign around their necks that read, “Make me feel important.”

Psychologist William James said “The greatest need of the
human soul is the need to feel important."

Make your customers and clients feel important.

But what could be more obvious?

I mean, is there any company anywhere that doesn’t know
that their customers are important? Is there one single company
any place on the planet that doesn’t know that? Is there even a
single person working in any of those companies that doesn’t
understand it?

Yet as a customer how often do you feel important when
you deal with those companies?

Often isn’t it more like that infamous corporate phone
message, “Because we value your business, please continue to
hold.”

Because we value your business, please continue to
hold???

It's like, “Hey, you're lucky we put you on hold. If we
didn't value your business we'd just hang up on you.”

What they’re really saying, of course, is, “Because we
value your business we’re going to reduce your productivity so
we can improve ours.”

If I'm going to be robbed I think I’d prefer to have it
done the old fashioned way, without the hypocrisy. I think I’d
rather have the thief stick a gun in my belly and say,
"Because I value your money, please give me your wallet."

Make people feel important.

I was booked to do a keynote speech at a five star hotel
in Chicago a while back. As I finished checking in, the
manager was at my side. He said, “Mr. Maher, welcome to our
hotel. Please allow me to personally escort you to your room so
I can make sure everything is up to your standards.”

Absolutely. I’ve got standards. I didn’t mention that
the gig I’d done the day before was at a place that made Motel 6
look like the Palace of Versailles.

We got to the room and the manager handed me his card,
saying, “Mr. Maher if there’s anything at all I can do to make
your stay more comfortable, please don’t hesitate to contact
me.”

He opened the door. The room had been upgraded to a suite.
A large basket of fruit and cheese sat like a centerpiece on
the dining room table. A bottle of wine chilled in a bucket on
the wet bar.

Did I feel important? Absolutely?

Sometimes it’s not bad to be confused with Bill Maher.

And I would be recommending that hotel by name to
everyone I know, if room service that evening hadn’t given me
food poisoning.

Make people feel important. But you’ve also got to
execute.

Still, with all the talk and all the advertising about
customer service, with all the blather about customer-centric
companies, making people feel important is still the easiest
and the cheapest way I know to differentiate yourself and
your organization from the competition.

Make people feel important.

And try not to give them food poisoning.



# # #




Barry Maher speaks, writes and trains on leadership, management, motivation,
communication and sales. His book, Filling the Glass was cited as "[One of]
The Seven Essential Popular Business Books" by Today's Librarian. Visit his
website and sign up for his free newsletter at _www.barrymaher.com_
(http://www.barrymaher.com/) or contact
him at 760-962-9872.





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