Personal Touch

The missing element for many people in business is “personal touch”. I am talking about the feel for personal service that comes from your local small-town (you fill in the blank) ____ shop. I used to work in a small men’s clothing store in my home town. We handled the mid to upper-end suits and men’s dress clothes. It was my first taste at sales and marketing on a level that shamed my “formal” education in marketing class. There are a few lessons that I learned working at that store that have served me well in many years of ministry and business that I’d like to share with you today.

First, customers didn’t need anything we had that they couldn’t get somewhere else (maybe even cheaper). Men in that small town could have driven a few miles down the road and purchased the exact quality suits from one of the “big retail” mall stores for the same or less money, but they didn’t. They bought it from a “crazy” guy named David because he gave them the personal touch. When they went to our store, there was a sense of belonging that overwhelmed you…..even if you were a “newbie”. David made you feel as if you were the most important person anytime you shopped there, and he taught his employees to do the same.

Second, I learned to never judge a book by its cover, or a commission by a man in a ragged work outfit. Once a man walked in with mud on his boots (which he respectfully removed before entering the store) and he wore an old pair of ragged work coveralls. He told me he needed a suit. I wrongly assumed that he would just look until he saw our prices and then humbly leave the store with a “well I’ll have to look around some more.” However, I treated him as well as I would have any of our fine regular customers and he seemed thankful that I would even ask to help him. Unexpectedly, he turns to me after trying on a particularly expensive suit and says, “I will take this one, and that one, and that one too,” as he pointed to two other similar suits. I guess my jaw dropping was enough to send my mentor, David, into action. David stepped in and helped me close the sale (I was new at the selling thing). As the humble man reached into his pocket and pulled out several one hundred dollar bills to pay for the suits, he asked me to pick out shirts and ties to match each suit. I also found out that the man was the owner of many properties and owned a prominent business in town. David waited until he left the store then informed me that I had just learned a valuable lesson about sales: Never judge a book by its cover, and never judge what someone will buy from you, by the appearance of what they already have. Treat everyone with respect, and you will reap the benefits. That day I reaped the benefits of personal service and the respect of someone who “appeared” to be poor.

Another important lesson I learned while working in the store was the value of doing my part and not someone else’s. One day, I was placing a sizable order from an outside salesman when my boss walked in and “busted” me (an employee) acting as the manager/boss. He didn’t embarrass me in front of the salesman. He showed me the personal touch and took the opportunity to help me learn that valuable lesson. He waited until the store was empty and asked me to look on the front window of the store at the name. The name of the business was HIS name…not mine. He then stated that my job was to do what I was assigned to do, and his job was to do what he was assigned to do.

Many times in the past 20 years I have used the lesson of roles clarification I learned that day. Know the mission that you are involved in with others, and know your role in helping to accomplish that mission. Don’t try to manage if you are the employee. Don’t be the errand boy if you are the manager. In order to show the personal touch in any endeavor you must first know your own limitations and strengths, and then work from those strengths. So, no matter what you do, always do it with the personal touch. We could all learn a lesson from David and the small town clothing store where I learned how to sell based on relationship marketing with that “personal touch”.