Profiles
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Putting the effort into relationship building – Smile like you mean it
2 Comments | Posted by Benny Lee in Careers
The best coffee shops are the ones where the staff knows your name and the barista knows your order the moment you walk into the store. They treasure your business and are happy (or pretend to be) when I shuffle in like a zombie every morning.
It takes the Starbucks barista at my local Starbucks 5 seconds to draw the smiley face on my coffee cup. This little bit of extra effort has far-reaching implications. Personally I am a coffee snob, there are ‘better’, cheaper and physically closer alternatives for me to choose, however over time with their effort unconsciously I will tend to choose their product over other choices. Their personalised touch will enhance my loyalty to them and I’m more likely to keep buying my coffee there.
There are examples of companies that put in extra effort in many service industries: restaurants that automatically know your details when you call for a return meal, or credit card companies that offer you special deals on your birthday. There are three laundromats within a 50m radius of my house, Raymond is not the cheapest (or the cleanest) but I always drop off my laundry at his shop as he will always says ‘Hello!’ and wave to me whenever I walk past his shop.
In our industry, people that put in that extra 2% of effort throughout the interview process will give themselves an edge over others, which is ever so important in this environment. Writing a thank you note after an interview or bringing up a recent company milestone in an interview should help you to stand out. The world IS small; if you aren’t successful in winning the job this time, there is a high chance you may work with that individual some time in the future or in another company if you’ve created a positive impression.
No matter what you do for work, when you boil it down those who are most successful are those that excel at building personal relationships. A little bit of effort goes a long way, those who put more effort into developing genuine and personalised relationships will differentiate themselves against their competitors.
Until next time!
2 Comments for Putting the effort into relationship building – Smile like you mean it
joyss sky | July 26, 2012 at 9:31 am
Michelle Au | July 26, 2012 at 11:22 pm
Benny, totally agreed with you (again)!
I found people are lazy these days. They take everything for granted. The person who is willing to put the extra 2% effort is a successor, at least I think so!
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