What Are You Doing Differently?
It is the first day of summer. The longest day of the year. As the long, warm days of summer lay before you – what will you do differently this year; in business and at home?
When my children were little, I worked in corporate America and so needed to rely on summer camps as a way of keeping my children off the streets. Each year in February we’d start looking at the options and with a nod to those camps loved from years past, the kids would plan their summer.
At the end of each summer camp week the kids had to rate the week – 1-10. 1 = camp was close to child abuse and 10 = they wanted to live there for the rest of their lives.
They used that information to CHANGE what they did from year to year. But guess what? I never changed my own behavior or experiences.
I realized that this past weekend as I was driving home from taking my daughter for a week of girl scout camp (receives a rating of 10 each year!). I drove home a different way – the long way – which took me past a lovely lake with camping.
I thought “how peaceful.” I want to be there! I realized that although the kids do something different each year – I always do the same thing – pretty much treat each week as if it were any other time of the year. I do spend as much time at the Chautauqua Institute as possible but I don’t do anything else.
This morning I decided – why not do something different? The possibilities are endless.
It is all a matter of looking at things with fresh eyes and a renewed spirit.
The same is true for our business and our relationship with our customers. How can we do things differently to make it more valuable and more interesting for everyone involved?
- Can we start a blog?
- Attend a new networking event?
- Add a new service or product?
- Change our hours?
- Reach out to a new audience?
If there isn’t anything you would DO differently – is there a new way to LOOK at your business or your customers that might make a difference?
Enjoy the extra minutes of sun today on this summer solstice and perhaps use them to think of one thing you might do differently in your life this summer.
Doing things differently or always seeking areas to improve on is a sound approach for any business. It’s important, however, to watch out for sweeping change – especially as it impacts customers. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater can backfire for sure. As this article suggests (http://www.upyourservice.com/learning-library/customer-service-contact/how-to-be-customer-unfriendly) well thought out change is often best.