At the Margins

by Barbara Mencer

Human beings love the dramatic.  And we're dying for "the secret" or the big break that'll transform our lives and our businesses. 

Bam!  Just like that, where we were once just getting by and making do, now we're going like gangbusters and taking the world by storm. One minute, we were languishing and the next, we've arrived. 

Like the struggling actress who lands a big role, or the start-up company that secures their first really big order, or the journeyman baseball pitcher who, after years of trying, develops an unhittable pitch, we'd all love to leap to the next level ... just like that.

"If I could just become their exclusive provider ..."

"If I could just secure that referral and gain access to their database ..." 

"If I could just find a big name publisher for my book ..." 

"If Oprah would just have me on her show and recommend me to her viewers ..."

Dramatic change.  What's not to love?  Why shouldn't we hope for it, aim for it, and intend that it happens to us?  No reason.  No reason at all.  That's just part of dreaming big dreams, playing big, and livin' large.  Hey, we're all for life-changing breakthroughs.  We are the Business BreakThrough Institute, after all.

But while you're waiting for Oprah's call, I'm guessing there are probably a handful of things you could do right now that would improve your business.  And, whereas you can't control when your big break comes, you can control what it's like to do business with you today ... and tomorrow ... and the next day.

The big break is nice, but so is making incremental improvement to your operations continuously over time.  I'm talking about doing lots of little things that, taken together, make a big difference and give you the edge over others in your field.  I'm talking about the little, and not so little, undramatic things you do at the margins that affect your client's experience and produce results.

I could give you a bunch of examples to illustrate what I'm talking about, but nothing brings home the message like the story of Johnny The Bagger.  If you haven't seen it, it's a gem.  It'll take just over 3 minutes to view and it'll make your day.

Thanks to faithful reader Dan Ruchman for reminding us of it.  All I can say is, let's hope the kid got a raise!
 
If you've already seen the video, look at it again from the perspective of how you might increase the level of client or customer delight in your business.

How do I better serve and delight my customers?   It's something all business owners can benefit from thinking about on a regular basis, and so few of us actually do. 

But, you know what?  And here's the kicker. You might just end up dramatically transforming your own business and taking it to a whole new level ... on your own ... from the inside!  No big break required ... just a lot of heartfelt Johnny energy.

Think about it.  

And by the way, when you talk to Oprah ... tell her we said hello.

Best Wishes,

Barbara