One of our core values at Ayrmer Software is to make the other person more important than ourselves. It was something our business coach introduced into the business as far back as 2006; so what do we mean?
I wrote an article in the spring of 2010 “Business is emotional” that introduced the relationship model that is equally applicable in our business and person relationships. A key element to building a relationship is to put the other persons needs ahead of your own.
So, shy would you put someone else’s needs ahead of your own?
We used to have a client that would phone the office and go on the attack every time they had a problem, regardless of the source. The instinctive reaction “fight or flight” is either to go on the attack or withdraw; neither of which are very productive. Our business coach turned round and suggest that I simple say “how can I help”?
So, the next time we received a similar call, I tried it and out to my utter amazement the client was completely thrown and started to explain the he was frustrated that he could not do x, y, z. It turned out that the client had simple got themselves so frustrated that they had lost sight that we were there to help them.
So, putting the other persons needs can pay dividends.
It goes deeper than that thou.
If you genuinely believe that putting someone else’s needs before you own, give without the expectation of receiving anything in return then you you will be rewarded by what comes back. I know it sounds like a contradiction, because you cannot go into this with an expectation, but in reality you’ll be paid back for your efforts in shed loads.
So, over the years this has become a core value for the business and had indeed paid us back time and time again.