Business as an Excuse for Relationship

Imagine selling free housing to someone who is homeless.

That was my job for 6 months. I found people chosen for housing randomly, and I introduced them to the program. I thought I’d find them, bring them in, and move on to the next person. Wrong.

What I failed to remember is how often these people have been hurt, let down, and mistreated by those around them. These are people with the lowest trust levels you will ever see.

The easiest sale imaginable quickly became the hardest. I spent days showing up for people, bringing them food, clothes, and cigarettes. Some never accepted my housing offer. It took a while for me to realize that the point was never to get them into housing. The point was to be in relationship with them. 

In business, we get caught up in the importance of maximizing our schedules. We sift through our calendar with elegance, seeking to get our desired outcomes and move to the next meeting.

However, this focus on outcome leads us to neglect the human being in front of us. We see them in terms of our gain from them, rather than understanding their needs. This didn’t work with the homeless, and I am sure it will not work in my business meetings. 

The goal of a business is to serve the needs of your customers. To do this, you need to know your customer well, understand their experience, and have compassion to solve their needs. 

Instead of sales quotas and forecasts for the future, what if we measured our business success in relationships built, customers heard, and needs addressed? 

That will build a lasting impact that no thief can take, nor moth destroy.