The right attitude for success

By Tom Borg

The right attitude makes all the difference.

Not long ago, a retail store owner approached me after one of my presentations. She complained that she had been in the retail business for over 20 years and the current situation was the worst she had ever seen.
According to this retailer, customers were constantly trying to “nickel and dime her to death” on her prices. On top of that, a local wholesale warehouse was selling many of the same items she carried at prices she couldn’t compete with. And making matters even worse, customers were inconsiderate, rude and impatient.
In response, she had started to bluntly tell her customers that if they didn’t like her prices or her service, they could take their business elsewhere. Is it any wonder that her business was doing poorly?

It wasn’t long after that exchange that I encountered one of her competitors. I asked this retailer how her business was doing. She smiled and told me business had never been better. Her customers were pleasant and good-natured and seemed to really enjoy coming into her store. She told me that she treated many of them like they were part of her family. Her business was doing well, and she attributed much of it to her upbeat attitude towards life.

In these two examples, it’s easy to see how the business owner’s perspective shaped the amount of success she experienced with her business. In the first example, the poor attitude didn’t help matters. It likely made the situation worse because it could have turned customers off from wanting to do business with the retailer.
Do you view your customers as troublesome and rude like the first example? Or do you see them as fair and trustworthy like the second shop owner? Your attitude toward your customers can reflect poorly or positively on your business.

Paul Hawken, author of the book “Growing a Business,” says “being in business is not just about making money, but it is a way to become who you are.”

It makes good sense that if we are going to have a healthy business, we’ve got to start with a correct attitude toward ourselves as well as toward our customers.

If we are going to have a healthy business, we’ve got to start with a correct attitude toward ourselves as well as toward our customers.

It’s been said before there are some people who can cheer up a whole room … by leaving it! That is not the type of store owner you want to or have to be. Rather, you can be someone who possesses a positive mental attitude and who just happens to own a retail business that serves customers that same mindset.
It is up to us to choose the attitude we want to express. It’s reasonable to expect that the response we receive from our customers and employees will be a reflection of the way we treat them. That is just as much true with a positive attitude as it is with a negative one.

As you look around your business community, you will see positive and negative examples of the attitude business owners display toward their customers. Note the ones who take a positive position and make it a point to invest some time discussing successful business strategies with them. It will be worth it for both of you.