8 lessons bondChristians can swipe from business
Corporate greed gets a bum rap, I think. I mean, what is corporate greed anyway? Isn’t it just human greed multiplied by influence?
Whatever, this post isn’t about corporate greed or even human greed. It’s about what you and I can take from business once we strip away the greediness. Because, after all, I think commerce is like many other things in life: it’s not really bad in and of itself – it’s how we use it.
So how can we use it the right way and learn from it?
1. Serving others is a privilege
The best companies understand that their customers are totally important. Even companies like Apple or even Ferrari, companies that could probably afford to lose you as a customer, treat you like you’re all that matters.
Serving is part of their culture, and that’s why they’re the best.
2. The sales team is the face
Consider Wal-Mart. To me, Wal-Mart isn’t Sam Walton or whoever it is who’s running the company now. Wal-Mart is the elderly gentleman who gives out stickers at the store entrance or the cashier who makes minimum wage bagging my merchandise.
In other words, it doesn’t really matter what happens in the preparation halls. The only thing the outsider knows is the front line.
3. Winners create real value – they don’t just shuffle it around
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” -Henry Ford
Some people use that quote as an excuse to go with what they think will work regardless of what other people seem to want. I don’t think that’s what Henry Ford really meant.
I think he meant you can’t always outdo other people by stealing from them. Often, a better strategy is to invent a whole new space to fill a whole different need.
5. Customer service is a chance to shine
A few weeks ago, I began shifting all my journaling online. To do that, I’m using a site called Penzu, and naturally I blogged about it on my personal site. And I might have tweeted something out about it too.
Anyway, shortly after that, I think within a day or so, the Penzu team contacted me. They thanked me for talking about their product and eventually even gave me some special offers.
I can appreciate free stuff as much as anyone, but what really stood out was that Penzu took the time to contact me personally. That means a lot because it means they went above and beyond what the transaction required. And now look: I’m writing about them on a completely unrelated blog.
6. Good marketing shares an experience before anyone buys in
Like Penzu, lots of web based companies let you try out a free version of their product. Companies like Facebook rely exclusively on that model for the majority of their users. Street vendors, especially if they’re selling food, offer samples to anyone who’s passing by and willing to give them a try. Car lots let you test drive their cars, movies flash previews months in advance, and even the cheesy weight-loss programs give you those before and after shots.
In each case and many others, the marketing draws you in by helping you experience the products for free. And yeah, that’s exactly what testimonies do… ’cause Jesus seemed to like the free model.
7. If people love you, you can make a lot of mistakes
I mean that in a good way.
If you’re just “okay,” then everyone will abandon you when you mess up. But if you build deep relationships, if people actually care about you and what you’re offering, then you can take more chances. Because then, even if you mess up, people will forgive you. They’ll know you’re doing it for the right reasons.
8. Success is built on thousands of tiny imitations
Avinash Kaushik, a guy who’s obsessed with measuring website stats, offered an interesting twist to a common suggestion. Most people suggest that you sit down someone who’s never tried your website and then watch them as they navigate around it for the first time. Avinash, though, said to run through this process but do it on some other top site in the industry, see what they’re doing right.
That’s a specific example, but over and over again, I hear that the best business people love to swipe ideas from other people, other businesses, and even other industries to rework into their own projects.
It’s kind of like how I reworked these business principles into this post on serving others. 
Serving Suggestions:
(1) There’s an important lesson to take from each of these eight points. I’d suggest picking just one that really stands out to you and then seeing how you can apply it in you life today. For example, how can you offer amazing customer service for people who are interested in learning about Jesus, or how can you take lessons from some other area of your life and fit them into serving others?
(2) And of course a question for the comments: what other lessons can we take from business? I’m sure there are many others…