An elder woman and her coworker are working at a newsstand and there are 30 people demanding their attention. They all want their newspaper – now. The coworker is frazzled and frustrated because everyone wants her attention. She cannot keep up with their demands. She is getting angry because no one is patient – she can’t keep up. The elderly women next to her is so serene in dealing with each interaction and her coworker cannot understand how she keeps her composure with so much going on around her. She decided to ask her coworker how she cannot be angry or frustrated by the demands of the job. She asks, “How do you not get frustrated and flustered by so many people demanding your attention?” The elderly lady replies, “When I am attending to a customer no other customer exists for me. I am taking care of one person and trying to make their day special by giving them my undivided attention. I know there will always be someone wanting my attention but the person in front of me is the only person in the world that I pay attention to. You are not seeing the person you are working with, you are seeing all the people you are not working with.” The elder woman learned that each interaction she has is a sacred moment.
We are blessed to have sacred moments every moment of our lives, if we allow ourselves to recognize them.
Before we go too much further, let’s become purposeful and define what I mean by a sacred moment. A sacred moment is simply a moment of truth with a customer, a customer interaction (this is not the only time we can experience a sacred moment): a telephone call, an email (yes, an email interaction if well thought out can be a sacred moment when the customer reads it,) a face to face meeting to review a project or determine next steps or simply selling them a paper or a cup of coffee.
Many time we do not interact with our customers unless there is a reason. Something is wrong, they need information only we can provide, something changed, or an emergency occurs. Something happens that requires you or your company to address a situation for your customer.
You can do what Google does and ignore their customers (who made them billions.) I have not been successful in finding someone from Google I can talk with. This is both frustrating and counter-productive.
Or you can do what Zappos does. I recently purchased some shoes from Zappos and the customer experience was delightful. The customer service representative listened, responded as needed and as a result his efforts, I experienced a sacred moment. I did not have to fight, argue or wait on hold.
How you treat each interaction with your customer can make their day and yours. It can be a sacred moment to them and to you. They want to be heard and you need to hear them. They want to be understood and you need to understand them. That want something that typically only you can provide.
You have an opportunity to positively impact someone in a powerful way, and in that moment, a sacred way.
What does this mean for you?
It means your customer feel heard and understood. They will be loyal. I left Google and went to Microsoft because I could talk to a person.
It means when they talk about you they remember how you made them feel. They become advocates and will become word of mouth marketing machines for you.
Anyone one in sales knows they your prospect does not care how much you know until they know how much you care. They will be loyal and buy more.
Our family members want to feel heard and understood.
Our friends want to feel heard and understood.
Our customer are no different.
It is about being present and listening. It is about follow-up.
It is about doing what is right.
Is it a simple concept? Yes. But it can be difficult to implement. Why? Because we are inundated with people demanding our attention. We are distracted by Facebook and Social Media. We have someone else demanding our attention, there is the phone ringing, the email flashing, and the next text message to address.
It is about making each interaction a sacred moment for both you and the person you are with.
