By the Ocean
Sunny 72 Degrees
7:01 a.m.
What if we stopped looking at business as a series of two-dimensional transactions and started looking at it like one human helping another human?
Transactions are easy to measure. You can analyze, you can optimize, you can sort, you can filter.
Running your business like this is a great way to go blind. Lost in the numbers and totally missing the point. You also sidestep enormous amounts of value you could be creating in the world for the people you serve.
I know about this because I used to be this way. “I’m going to do X and you’re going to give me Y. If we agree on that, that’s all there is to it! Have a good day!”
But that’s not all there is to it. That’s only true if you’re asleep, like I was.
And then I stumbled into creating the Partner Program. That was about 10 years ago. I have no idea why I named it that, because I certainly didn’t even understand what it meant to be a Partner.
What that led to was working with the very same business owners for 1, 3, 5, 7 even 8 years at a time.
Are they clients? I guess, technically. But I don’t really view them that way. A Partner is different. No matter what the financial arrangement is, a Partner is someone for whom a different level of care is extended. Someone where the synergy between the two parties creates something more valuable than the sum of its parts.
There is no “Order Giver” or “Order Taker” in a relationship like this. Instead, we go on a journey together, in pursuit of a common goal. I’m not trying to maximize my “Client Lifetime Value” because that number is not the primary leverage point of success. What I’m trying to maximize is the co-creation of real results that are only possible in a true Partnership. The money takes care of itself once you do that.
If your business is focused on creating transactions, then perhaps now is the time to expand your understanding of just how valuable you could be to the world.
Our perception is the source of most of the constraints we allow to limit us. If we can change that, broaden it, redefine it, we can change everything.
Are they really clients and customers you’re looking for? That’s a relationship where you do a thing and they pay you for it. Or is it something more? Something deeper? Something more human that should be the target of our search?
These are obviously questions only you can answer for yourself. The answers don’t really even matter. It’s the ASKING of them that tends to make the shift happen.