Welcome the fear of Customer

Surely you’ve heard the old saying ”put the fear of God in someone”. Basically what it means is being afraid of something that is more powerful than us and has power over our lives. Even for us who are not that religious, the fear of God means something.

Religiousness aside, let’s dig a little deeper in the meaning. Because of that fear, we want to stay out of trouble so to speak. We want to avoid doing things that would violate the rules within the community we live in.

Because should we ever violate them, we will have done wrong. And if we do wrong, we will get punished.

Let’s talk business for a moment. In today’s workplace everyone is too busy all the time. We have too much on our plates, and we feel even if we had 48 hours in a day we would not get it all done.

Still we’re more uncertain of the future our jobs than ever. For years it seems people have been getting fired rather than hired, and there is no end in sight.

In an environment like this it’s frighteningly easy to start focusing on ourselves. Our own goals, our own needs, our own problems. It seems safer to focus on simply coping and making it through the day instead of progressing.

But that’s not keeping us safe in the long run. Not as individuals and certainly not as successful companies.

What we need is the fear of Customer to be put in us.

We need to start thinking about the powerful, outside force that is making or breaking our success. We need to stop doing the things that would violate the book of Customer, so to speak, and start doing what gets us closer to heaven.

Because ultimately it is the Customer who decides what will happen to our working life. So next time you’re faced with a decision, ask yourself how your Customer would want you to act. What is the choice that will bring you good karma instead of bad karma?

We need to start looking further than the end of our desks, but close enough to notice the non-essentials in front of us. Remember – everything you do to earn your wage is ultimately paid by your customers. So make sure that your work is something they are happy to pay for.