It’s always admirable to treat people as you’d like to be treated yourself. In a personal arena, it’s respectful, endearing and forges the strongest of friendships. But does this still stand true? And how does it translate into business life? Perhaps, it’s time to move on.
There are some base-line items that we’d all like in business – professional respect, quality products and services, timely delivery, and prompt payment to name but a few. The stumbling block though comes when we treat people as we’d like to be treated; alas, they are not us and they may not share our views. People are increasingly doing business with people (not companies) and emotional instincts are dictating our search for decent people to do business with who empathise and provide a friendly service (often before the end goods are even scrutinised). We therefore need to consider behaviour and personality before buying and selling techniques and marketing and prospecting strategies.
Treating others as we’d like to be treated is no longer enough. We need to treat people as they’d like to be treated. This means getting under their skin to appreciate what makes them tick, working to understand their personality type, assessing their behavioural style, listening to their requirements, and standing back to observe their needs. We can then apply this knowledge to build relationships and improve our people-management skills during our staff, client, supplier, associate and prospect interactions. That’s when business relationships can really be leveraged and business success pursued.
For more on this subject, we’ll be tackling behavioural styles in business with expert John MacPhie during July’s networking event. Click here for details.
In the meantime, here’s a great video about considering others needs and paying it forward. Hugely relevant in business as well as personal circles. After all, what goes around, comes around!
VIDEO