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Lemonade From Lemons

Written by: Mark Deo

Article Overview: Making lemonade from lemons is a cliche' used often in life, so why not apply it to your business? It's important to have a passion for the work you do. How do you find this passion? Grab a cool glass of lemonade and read on.

Lemonade From Lemons

Coming back from a nice day at the beach recently my wife spotted a lemonade stand by the side of the road. The stand was operated by two young children around 10 or 11 years old. We were a little thirsty so we decided to stop and get a drink. As we pulled up to the stand we could see the excitement in the kid's eyes. They scampered to and fro to prepare the cups of lemonade for two more customers. "Ice or no ice," the miniature salesperson asked me. I gave the child a buck, which included our standard 50% tip.

They carefully poured two glasses of icy drink and lovingly placed a slice of lemon in each of our cups. These kids were thrilled to be able to act as little entrepreneurs. I looked over at the father of one of the children. He obviously was the chaperone for the day. Even he was animated and full of life. He smiled, welcomed us and even thanked us for stopping by. As we left, two more cars were pulling-up and the kids were frantically fixing another pitcher. Our drinks were finished by the time we got to our car but the pleasant warm feeling was with us for the rest of the day.

I couldn't help but think if only ADULT entrepreneurs could be as enthusiastic about their business as these kids were about a little lemonade stand. That's when it hit me. WOW! That's it! The reason Kathy and I always stop at these lemonade stands isn't because of the cold drink or the cheap price or even the blessing we might bring to the children. It's because of the way it makes us feel.

Those kids love being lemonade merchants and it shows. They are passionate about making people happy. They feel great about what they are doing and consequently we feel great at being part of their adventure. We are attracted to them because of their sincerity, passion and integrity. It's not about the product, service or the money.

Today people are facing difficult circumstances. They are struggling to make payroll. They are seeking to replace lost business. Most of us are working diligently on delivering a better product or providing improved service or even trying to do both at a cheaper price. Many are looking at ways to increase profit so they can survive and grow. I say this is only a very small part of the solution.

Chances are your competitors are offering a product or service that is very similar to yours if not indistinguishable in every way. It may even be cheaper than yours. If this is so, then how can we get an edge over the competition? We can obtain this edge by becoming focused on making customers FEEL good about being involved with our product or service.

We live in the most extraordinary economic period in history. As a result we must take extraordinary measures to ensure our success. This means learning how to attract people to us. Business is about relationships. Whether we're looking to attract business partners, customers, or talent, we must understand that people look closer at WHO we are rather than WHAT we do. This is as true for multinational companies as it is for single practitioners. Why did every business associated with Enron divested themselves of that relationship? Surely not because of poor product performance or substandard service or even low profit potential. The fact is that Enron's product, service and profit potential was excellent. Yet based on "who they are," no business partner in their right mind would’ve aligned themselves with Enron at the time.

I'm not talking about taking the high moral ground or being a lily-white ethical leader in your industry. My point is that we need to create passion in our business as much as we look for ways to improve profit. Here are some "passion creating" ideas that I know will attract the right kind of customers and partners to your business:

1. Be crystal clear about the vision for your business. I get physically ill when I come into a company and the CEO hands me their mission statement. Remember that your DESTINATION is far more important than your mission. It is the end result that motivates and excites people.

2. Seek business relationships that add value to the customer interaction. These are likely to include what I like to call "relationship enhancements." These are variables that are more important to customers than they are to the bottom-line. They could also be relationships that provide access to valuable technologies or complimentary (not competitive) product offerings.

3. Rally your people around the guiding principles of your business. Focus not so much on teaching your people "what" to do but rather "why" you do it that way and how it has strengthened business relationships in the past.

4. Expect more from your people. Hold them to a higher standard. No organization can survive and grow without a system of accountability. As business leaders we are accountable to customers. Our team members must also be accountable to specific duties, responsibilities and levels of performance.

5. Impose your values on others. This goes against the grain. Most would say we DON'T have the right to impose our values on others. The fact is that all we really have is our values. Any job can be taught but can we really teach reliability, honesty, enthusiasm, integrity and so on? Does that mean we should only expect that from certain team members? I say we should hire people based on value consistency and fire them for value inconsistency.

6. Be open with information. Successful people are information hounds. They are always hungering to know more. I believe the more your customers and partners know the more you will be able to incite passion and differentiation.

7. Differentiate not just your product selection, service delivery or profit potential but the emotional quotient in business relationships. Get to the heart of how people feel about your business, product or service. We can't MAKE people feel a certain way we can INFLUENCE the way they feel based on our actions.

What are you doing to attract more customers to your business? I hope it's more than just providing an excellent product, spectacular service or a great value. For these are no longer enough. They can be easily replicated by your competition. Improving relationships is the key element in attracting customers and partners today. You may feel that this easier said than done. There are however techniques that can be employed to help to build and strengthen relationships.

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Article Tags: 11 years, adult, cars, chaperone, circumstances, cold drink, day at the beach, drinks, excitement, glasses, integrity, lemonade stand, merchants, nice day, passion, payroll, rest of the day, salesperson, sincerity, those kids



Related Forum Posts
You Can Start From Some Where! - I have always found stories like these interesting. When you can see and understand that many famous, successful people like these usually start off in places worse than we're at. It think they brings our goals a little closer and makes them more tangible... * Dan Akroyd was a mail sorter for Canada's national postal service. * Jennifer Aniston was both a telemarketer and waitress before hitting it big. * Halle Berry worked at Higbee's Department store in the children's department. * Sandra Bullock worked as a bartender. * Before his big break, country singer Kenny Chesney worked as a valet attendant, telemarketer and mail sorter. * Chubby Checker plucked chickens at a poultry market named Henry Colt's. * Before Nirvana, the late Kurt Cobain worked as a janitor for Lemons Janitorial Service. * Diddy was an intern at Uptown Records where he did grunt work like washing cars & fetching coffee. * Bill Cosby shined shoes and sold produce when he was young. * Simon Cowell started out as a mail room clerk for EMI Music Publishing where his father worked. * Michael Dell washed dishes at a Chinese restaurant for $2.30 per hour. * Danny DeVito was a formally trained hair stylist before his break on Taxi. * Michael Douglas once worked as a gas station attendant. * Tom Hanks once worked as a hotel bellman and carried bags for a number of celebs. Sometimes it can be easy to forget that everyone starts at the bottom... * So what does this have to do with your business? You can add to the list!


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