High standards in the business world are a good thing, right? We all want to be known for keeping high standards and doing the most amazing work—but sometimes we can set our expectations so high that they are actually unattainable and off-putting—especially if we let those expectations seep over onto our relationships with our customers and clients.
Have you ever gone into a store where they sales person made you feel like you didn’t deserve to shop their? I think most of us have had that experience where we were met with a snobby salesperson or someone who treated us as if we were a major imposition. I don’t know about you, but this is not the sort of place where I want to spend my money. I work with a client whose customer-base is rather “unsophisticated”—they just are not concerned with deadlines, record-keeping, or even really understand how things like discounts and forms work. They are great, hard-working passionate people in an important profession, but organization just is not their strong suit. At first, it aggravated me to no end! I couldn’t figure out why these people would not jump on board with my standards for how to do things correctly. I realized, however, that I was being like those snobby sales people and letting that seep over into my relationships. I had to let go of some of my established expectations to make room for the reality of working with the demographic.
Many of us tend to set personal standards for our home businesses that are so high, we end up feeling like failures when we cannot attain these incredible standards. Easing up a little and allowing ourselves to be more human and evolving could be a boost to our self-esteem and make us more accessible to our customers and clients (not to mention more pleasant to be around.)
Also: Who Can You Blame When the Ball Gets Dropped?
Ask Yourself–How Does This Help My Business?