I ride an ’88 FJ 1200, the same basic bike that I had to sell in order to get married. I bought it again 30 years later and had it completely redone. But sometimes it slides into midlife crisis and refuses to behave like a youngster.
Saturday was one of those days. I was facing uphill on a very steep grade, stopped at a light when it started acting up, and then completely died. With much grunting and heaving and inconveniencing everyone behind me, I got it pointing downhill and popped it into second, hoping to get up some speed and jumpstart it. Nothing. It coughed and spluttered and cracked off a few backfires and finally came to a rest beside the road.
It reminded me of Tom Cruise. Looks great on the outside, but you know all the guts inside have a lot of miles on them and sometimes that’s going to show up.
I was totally stuck. So I called my friends at Cascade Powersports and talked to someone at the front desk. Then I heard the owner Andrew shout from somewhere, “Is that Trevor? Tell him we’ll be there in 20 minutes!” Which they were. They loaded up my bike and even gave me a ride home. And they seemed so happy to do it too.
My tip for you today is:
ONLY ENTHUSIASTIC PEOPLE CAN EXCITE CUSTOMERS AND KEEP THEM COMING BACK AGAIN AND AGAIN!
For the leader this means two things:
Whoever interacts with the paying customer is your most important person. Focus on getting them enthusiastic about the job and the customers they serve.
Your employees are your most important people, not your customers.
Even as I write this it seems like heresy. But the best companies I interact with have the happiest staff. Do you find that too?
So, treat your people like gold and they’ll treat your customer like gold.
Getting ahead is about getting started!
