All employees great and small

I failed to post last week due to circumstances beyond my control. My father fell down, broke his hip and had a stroke.  I flew to the United States to help my parents.  Fortunately, the danger is over.  He is currently at a rehab center starting the long process of getting back on his feet.

During this difficult week, I had the wonderful experience of interacting with great front-line employees in many enterprises. Their dedication was expressed in a variety of ways that all shared one feature, caring. For example, the manager at the Tarzana Inn arranged for me to have my regular room even though I gave him only 24 hours’ notice. The barista at Peet’s Coffee in Tarzana learned my name and favorite drink by the third day (dark chocolate orange mocha, to be specific). The nurse at the rehab center volunteered the Wi-Fi code without being asked. All these acts, among others, were not sales in a formal sense but much better than any sales pitch could ever be because they were from the heart, not a formal sales pitch whose purpose was to make money.

I am aware that the CEO's of many companies work long hours, successfully foresee future developments, understand developing technology and create successful corporate cultures. They are well compensated too.  Yet, in the vast majority of cases, customers neither know their name nor directly feel their presence. People notice and remember if the sales clerk or waitress was pleasant and made every possible effort to help, even if such effort was not part of their jobs. They notice that that they no longer had to explain how weak they wanted their coffee or how wide the shoe had to be. In short, customers appreciate being treated like individuals, not numbers, and reward enterprises that do so.

That lesson is valuable for all freelancers and small enterprises that cannot compete on price with larger companies. Customers will pay more if they are treated as special.  This competitive advantage includes the ability to pick up the phone and reach a person immediately instead of a going through a labyrinth of phone options, have a meaningful discussion of payment terms, receive an immediate solution to an issue and not have to start at the beginning with a new service representative each time. The scale of a freelance or small business becomes a strength and an advantage as compared to its large corporate companies.

Of course, this strength has to be structured, marketed and applied in order to be effective. The failure to invest time in understanding your customers, express this advantage or treat each customer as special will nullify it. This means that successful entrepreneurs must know the essentials of each of their clients, ensure that both existing and potential clients know that they will receive special service and conscientiously provide it.

Since freelancers wear all hats by definition, they only have to persuade themselves that special service is worth the extra effort, a much easier task than creating a corporate culture and hiring the right employees that will do so.  You are all employees, great and small.