In our business lives sometimes we laugh at what we do, sometimes we cry with frustration, and sometimes we know we must to simply get on with it. If things aren’t going as we planned we can all be heard (or seen) asking ourselves why we’re still at it. Other times we don’t need to ask; we know that we enjoy doing what we do.
Around 12 years ago I realised why I like what I do. It wasn’t anything personal, it wasn’t anything about the tools I use to do my job or even what it was we had produced for our clients. It was their reaction to what we had given them to help them do their jobs, how we had helped them solve a problem that was making their jobs miserable and making an inordinate number of them leave after only a few months.
Who the customer was or what we gave them is not important. What is worth relating is that when we gave them this new set of tools we started out by running a “pilot” that was supposed to last a few days. Within a few hours we had processed their backlog of work, which previously would have taken them days to process; there was no way they were going to let this new world go.
Over the years since we’ve delivered many systems and tools to clients. Some have produced similar reactions. Not all and to be frank I still remember that one for the standout intensity and utter joy on the faces of everyone involved.
What is especially good is to see my experience that same totally positive, reinforcing, fulfilling feeling. And like me I know they strive to see it again with the next client, or the next, or the next. My job as a MD is to give them and our clients the opportunity to experience it.
Oh – that customer we worked with 12 years ago is still one of our key customers. Wonder why?
