Recently I was driving by my local bicycle shop and noticed that it had closed down. Was I surprised? Not at all. Every time my kids and I went into the bike store the owner/manager would come out and ask “What do you want?” When I would take my bike in to get fixed they would almost try to talk me out of getting it fixed there. “We’re really busy right now”, “We might not get to it for a while,” and so forth. You’ve never seen someone so put out to have customers in their store.
As we drove by the store my son asked me why I thought they had to close.
My answer: They thought they were in the bike business, but they were really in the people business and they didn’t know it.
It’s not just bikes stores. Rescue Mission, churches, restaurants, boutiques, non-profits and every other kind of organization tends to think that they are in a certain product or business category.
Don’t be fooled, you’re in the people business. You forget it at your peril.
What task are you so busy doing that you are tempted to forget about the people around you? The customers, clients and guests that you exist to serve?
David Curry
