If you don’t know Kathy Albarado, you should. Kathy is a friend of eQ; she's a business partner, a CEO, and a remarkable human being. I have a ton of respect for Kathy, because of what she has achieved, what she stands for, and who she is. One of my favorite things about Kathy is her mantra of being INTENTIONAL.
For me, this speaks to being purposeful in everything a person does. In an organization this couldn’t be more critical to the success of an individual, a team, a business unit, or an enterprise.
While this has many applications, here is the one I want to resonate with you the most after reading this post: the gap between being intentional (purposeful) in an action, or not, is the difference between you expanding your business and living into the vision you created for the firm; or it means scraping together just enough money to make payroll each week—or not. The concept is that serious.
Consider this: are you able to tell when someone is operating at a transactional level? Whether it’s a customer service representative who fields your call, or if you’re buying something over the phone, even calling your cable/internet provider, or asking a question about booking a hotel room; can you really tell? Transactional sounds like, “my job is to answer the phone, answer the questions, and complete the transaction.” Maybe they’ll even ask a compliance-based question…mind you, they’ll do it in a very monotone, disengaged fashion. The typical canned response being, “Is there anything else I can help you with today?”
That is someone operating WITHOUT intent or purpose. It is the difference between the bricklayer versus cathedral builder mentality.
The person who serves the same job function (on paper), but who acts with intent or purpose engages in an entirely different manner. As the customer, you feel that you are the only customer that matters, that the representative cares, that your business matters, and that your concerns matter—we all crave that type of connection.
When actions are delivered with intent they create remarkable service moments, opportunities for increased sales, opportunities for referrals, and opportunities to drive customer loyalty.
The cool thing is, you can screen for intent and purpose. That’s right, screen for it. Imagine that your organization has a clear vision, mission, and values. During the interview process, you can ask candidates for examples of their values and how they express them both at home and at work. You will immediately get a clear picture of whether they operate with intent, or just go through the motions. It doesn’t matter what role (bank teller, telephone customer service representative, account manager, VP of sales, COO) the equation is the same. If candidates cannot fully express how they live their values and how that comes to life at work, you will very likely have an issue with this person in their role. If; however, they can easily articulate how they express their values in what they do, and their values align with your organization’s values—Oh, baby! You might be on to your next rock star!
Don’t leave your customer relationships, organizational succession plans, and short or long term business success to chance. Be intentional about who and how you hire, how you train, how you set performance expectations, and how you grow your enterprise!
Andrew Freedman, Principal at entreQuest, specializes in helping eQ’s clients grow by creating well aligned company cultures and strategies that result in remarkable client and employee experiences.
