One of the hardest life lessons for self-driven individuals to learn is that being excellent and being perfect are two very different things, and Bob McIntosh’s book makes clear how keeping that difference in mind can help one focus on making more money and growing the business.
Entrepreneurs can easily fall into the “perfection trap” and work so hard on perfecting things that didn’t need to be perfected that they waste time and energy on what is ultimately a moving target to begin with: while perfection is subjective, excellence is a more collective goal, and will make all the difference in whether one’s doing the most he can with the service for others. Something can be excellent while not being perfect: as an example, most industry leaders would consider the iPhone excellent, but few would call it perfect – including Apple, which is constantly upgrading their operating system and services for better operation.
Bob McIntosh’s book goes into ten different ways to stop looking for one’s own concepts of what perfection is while striving for excellence in interaction with others and the book details them accordingly. While it’s worth reading the whole book, here are some core values used for business:
1. Identify core values. By focusing on overall goals and values, one will not get bogged down on minutiae that will impede hearing what customers are saying. Unless one has a clear focus on what matters first and foremost to the company, one will never be able to strive for excellence. Identify what the goals are and work on them.
2. Truly listen. One of the easiest perfection traps to fall into is to stop listening. Too often, companies will destroy their customer bases by not taking their clients seriously enough. Not listening to clients means one is focusing too much on internal goals rather than service, forgetting the main goal of what one is aiming for to begin with.
3. Learn something new every day. Taking the time to see the accomplishments and how services are being used can tell a lot about how the business can move towards a path of excellence. Perfection traps always lead to stagnation.
4. Teach others what one had learned. Take the knowledge gained and pass it on: whether imparting the learnings to the employees or relating to customers, taking the knowledge gained from experience will help one learn even more about what the clients want and how to make them happy.
5. Practice Gratitude. Oft-forgotten today is that modern commerce has largely been digitized, but younger generations are demanding genuine human experience in companies that they love and take seriously. This is vital to the reality of modern business today. Gratitude brings back the human element in customer relations, and it helps one appreciate the value of what one has in business.
Moving towards excellence overall as a regular target will help break the perfectionist mindset while creating better customer relationships. The world will simply never be completely customized to perfection for everyone. Once focused on excellence, many customers will see what one has to offer as “perfect”. Because in the end – as Bob McIntosh explains – your success will come from your commitment to excellence, and that excellence will give your work real financial value. Leave the question of what is perfect to your customers: focus on excellence, and your customers will thank you.
To connect with Bob, find out more about his book, and take the complimentary Perfectionist Mindset quiz, visit: http://bobmcintoshbook.com
Media Contact
Company Name: DoneBP.com
Contact Person: Bob McIntosh
Email: bob@donebp.com
Phone: 818-863-6668
Country: United States
Website: http://bobmcintoshbook.com/