I was leading a coaching session with a business owner and client when the recent difficulty of filling key roles in his organization was brought up. He’s not alone, for most leaders the great resignation has meant that a smaller pool of applicants is available to fill vacancies. For my client’s business in the manufacturing industry, it has impacted all levels- managers and front-line employees. To counter this he had come up with a creative idea to meet with a trade school to woo their top students. The only problem was he was a tad bit too focused on what they could do to benefit him, versus serving out to others.
This inspired me to ask, who do you serve first? Now, I want you to know in advance I’m writing this blog while hungry, so pardon the upcoming food references. Either way, the general principle around serving those around you first remains true, even when it comes to pizza. Let’s slice and dice this week’s topic!
Why Great Leaders Serve First
Serving first is an excellent life principle to adopt even in the business world. I can attest that it’s the one of the main reasons I’ve been successful as a leader and sales professional. In fact, if you ask around, any great salesperson will say it’s all about trying to offer a solution or service before your client realizes there’s even a problem! Same goes for leadership strategies, by becoming a company that has something to offer its employees, you will naturally attract the best in class. Why? Everyone loves a mutually beneficial relationship.
Jumping back to my client’s challenges, I pointed out that his strategy had to go beyond just meeting with the trade school to share company information. That’s one Google hit away, more commitment and effort needed to be done. To stand out from the other 50 trade companies recruiting, he had to put in the footwork to create a strong relationship with the school and its students. Clearly, he had a few glaring holes we needed to fix.
How Great Leaders Serve First
Here’s how serving first comes in. I mentioned offering a mutually beneficially relationship, but how exactly can that be applied in business? Allow me to break it down in three easy steps for you to remember and execute:
- UNDERSTAND their business and their needs.
- IDENTIFY exactly what they need and what you can do to help them obtain it.
- PRIORITIZE serving them; ideally quickly before someone else swoops in.
It all comes down to establishing value, be it in sales, recruitment, marketing, or manufacturing. Let’s take a quick look at each step!
1. UNDERSTAND their business and their needs
Spend your first interaction with your desired acquittance, be it at meeting or networking event, listening with the intent to understand their business and what they need. Pay close attention to their current struggles and even strengths. Approach it almost as if they’ve hired you to help them instead of you trying to help yourself. Here are two key things to apply:
- You should genuinely be interested in helping them.
- You should come prepared with probing questions that will unearth a deeper understanding of their needs. Take it from me, please, don’t just show up and make it up on the fly. It’s always obvious and more than likely you’ll come across as fake. Nobody likes or trusts a two-faced player!
2. IDENTIFY exactly what they need and what you can do to help them obtain it.
The goal here is multi-pronged, you want to be good for business and not just exist as a cookie cutter vendor or an acquaintance. By understanding their needs, it will become second nature to identify how you can help them. But you also need to take it one step further by vocalizing how you’ll go about it. Be prepared to write it on the wall if you must! Of course, follow through is king, so also try not to overcommit. Far too often in business we overlook genuinely helping others but at the end of the day, who wants to do business with a selfish person? Nobody. Smell that? The pizza is almost ready to be served, onwards to step three!
3. PRIORITIZE serving them; ideally quickly before someone else swoops in.
Here’s where you make it happen. To effectively serve you must execute on your promises. Don’t take too long either, there’s always someone lurking in the wings ready to steal your human resources, capital, market share and clients. I use a simple strategy, try to initiate, or solve their plight within 24 hours of asking how I can serve them. Afterall, no one likes a lukewarm pizza.
Final Thoughts
Let’s go back to my client earlier. My final recommendation was to find out what the school and students needed and see how he could serve them. Be it someone to come in as a guest lecturer to the students about business or leadership or using his business to help them procure additional resources.
Speaking frankly, people tend to not look on favorably to those who are only intent on serving themselves first, even if it’s just the first slice of pizza. When it comes to helping yourself, it all starts with helping others. In every business the serve first principle reigns. Heck, it works in every life!
In case you were worried, I did finally get that pizza. My wife and business partner, Shannon, SERVED me a slice! Learn more about serving others in my bestselling book, Serve Up, Coach Down, also available on Audible.
