What It Means to Be Likable and Respected (6:09) – Association Hustle Podcast Episode 257

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11/04/2020


The less concerned you are about being liked – or caring what others think of you – the more liberated you might be and it could be the catalyst to your greatness and meeting your full potential. Listen to this week’s episode for hard truths on integrity, customer service, and delivering value to your clients.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.
Here’s JP.
 
The less concerned you are about being liked – or caring what others think of you – the more liberated you might be and it could be the catalyst to your greatness and meeting your full potential.
We’re in the service business at The Moery Company – whether we’re selling for an association or offering consulting services – we’re interacting with our clients on a pretty regular basis; if not daily, weekly. What I often see is a differential mentality; a one down mentality, if you will. In some cases, it’s because you just want to be liked.
This sometimes starts during the sales process, “Hey, I’m so appreciative of your time!” Or, “Gosh, I’m so grateful you would do business with us!” Yeah, I get it, I am thankful. However, my time is just as important as yours.
In the association industry, we have a cult of personality of deferral, “Oh my gosh, I can’t have any CEOs mad at me, it will be very uncomfortable at the next reception we’re at together!” I don’t think about it that way. Associations can also see this with their members. When I worked at an association and paying member was upset – like a former chairperson mad about their room – there was a meltdown in the office and a fire drill reaction to it. It’s ridiculous.
The best customer service is not about being liked or being differential, rather it’s about being respected. You hired me – or joined an association – because you have a problem that we can help you solve. There might be an avoidance of the problem or a lack of admission of the problem and, deep down inside, you likely reached out and hired me to clean it up or change the trajectory of your company. To perform the best customer service, you may need the very best advice, even if it’s tough love. You hired me for advice and the very best recommendations, so let’s reframe a few specific tactics that will make you great at customer service because these things really count when serving a client. Be on time, don’t miss a deadline, make every meeting, sign on to Zoom early, look like a pro even if you’re working from home, and so on.
Look at the agreement and project scope regularly. I’m always referring back to ours to ensure that we’re delivering exactly what our client asked us to do. From my experience, most problems in business are based on someone not doing what they promised they would and they didn’t do it in the expected timeframe.
Deliver value every single time you engage with a client, even if it is a status meeting. Provide expertise, observation from the field, nuggets of information, and anything else that might be helpful.
Have integrity. It’s not about a billing statement or over charging someone. It’s about perspective. If it sucks, tell them. If someone on their team is slowing you down and undermining your ability to deliver, say so.
I admit, I’ve sugar coated the truth before. And, you know what? I got fired anyway. The fault was mine. It was my mistake, it was my lack of integrity and not telling it like it is, it was my fault not sharing all of my expertise – whether it was good or bad. You can deliver on these – even if it’s tough love – sincerely. You’ve kept your end of the bargain if you do it that way.
In the long run, people might actually like you for that and I believe they will eventually respect you more. An added benefit is that you’re going to respect yourself more for doing it that way.
Hope this was helpful for you.
Hey, if you listened all the way through this episode, you deserve a treat! I’m going to send you a free copy of Association Hustle, my first and maybe only book that I’ll ever write. I put a lot into it – my heart and soul – and would love to give you a copy. If you listen to this podcast, I’m going to send one to you complimentary. Respond to me by e-mail, or LinkedIn, or wherever you want.
Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next week. Bye bye.
 
We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.
 
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