Mission Statements and Raving Fans

Years ago, in my past life (that would actually be past career) I participated in a wide variety of training programs. You know the kind, how to drum up business, how to make money, how to put more and more money into the pockets of the trainers, how to spend days and days away and avoid working all while under the pretense of learning more (actually, Im kidding about the last ones&.well mostly kidding!).

There was one trainer who seemed to be quite popular with the Top Producers. And since I was trying to swim up that damn waterfall and fighting against that current to try to be something that I wasnt (I was definitely on the wrong path but like so many people I thought Well Ive worked so hard and I make decent money, what is my problem? Is being happy all that important? It turns out that yes, it really is that important&all of the things that I wanted so desperately at that time never came until I let go of that impossibility&.But that is another post, another day) I tried to follow him for awhile too. Misery! It was pure misery for me! This guy was really hardcore sales. One of the things that he promoted was a 5 minute listing presentation, yep, walk in the door, shove the contract in their face and tell them to sign here. I never could quite feel good about that. It seemed that this trainer taught his followers to only think about themselves and their business . Which is okay but I just couldnt bring myself to feel good about it.

Later on, after struggling too long, I found out about a different trainer, one whose message was much closer to my own values and beliefs. One that had I stayed in the business, I could have followed.
I spent a couple of days in beautiful Portland, Oregon at one of his seminars and I really felt good about how he was teaching us to handle our business.
One of the most memorable things and the first assignment that he had us do was to construct a mission statement. After we had written the first draft we analyzed what we had written. On the first draft many of the people there (and even though I dont really recall probably myself included) had things like
My mission is to list so many houses and sell so many houses and make so much money.

And then came the Paradigm Shift.

Business is about serving the customer.

So then the mission statement became about how can I serve my customer? What can I do to make life and moving easier for them? and How can I turn them into Raving Fans?

Whoa, that felt so much better than sign here, see you later. That was something I could live with. How can I make this experience better for my clients and customers? It felt good. It felt right. It felt like if that was your focus, then perhaps you would be worth the money they paid you. And that felt like a worthy purpose, a way to be in the business and still be at peace, a way that I could live with.

Well, Im no longer in that business. I dont miss it. But that lesson of the Mission statement has stuck with me. It is a valuable exercise.

How can you make the experience better for your clients and customers? How can you turn them into “Raving Fans”?