Coughlin’s Law – Just a Little Effort Please…..

What does it take to have a .300 batting average? A few extra days in the batting cage?  A few more hours of practice when everyone else goes home?  What is the pay off for one extra base hit in every ten at bats?  At a .200 batting average you are most likely in danger of going back to the minors.  At a .300 batting average you are looking at a salary double that of your team mates averaging just .200.

So does the batting cage translate to the pub or other businesses?  Of course it does!  The customer looking for a drink will tell you what they want and put the money on the bar and you wouldn’t have to say a word to them.  Chances are they won’t be coming back nor will they become a Raving Fan either.  How much effort would it be to say hello and show some level of interest in them?  Very little.  When I was a Barman, it was standard practice for everyone working to say hello to everyone you knew and to introduce yourself to everyone you didn’t.  It didn’t take any time for us to ask the customer their name, tell them ours and then let them know its would nice to meet them.  Through out the night we used their names as much as possible to reinforce the relationship and to help with the name to face recognition since we didn’t have a basic CRM system.  This behavior would then lay a foundation for the customer to build on then next time they came in as well as talking to others about the Barman they just met.

When you tell / promise a time or a deadline, what does it take to keep that promise or meet that deadline?  Things happen and sometimes you can’t keep your promise BUT you need to let the customer know in advance and as early as possible.  Their time is just as important as your time.  Keeping promises on the small items, lets the customer know that you can keep your promises for the big things.  Remembering a name, being on time, delivering on a promise means something and it is sad to say that it is not the norm.

Look around in your industry or place of work and watch the high performers.  Who makes the most money, has the best position, works on the best projects, has the most prestige, is the go to person?  Watch what they do on a daily basis and you will see something in common across the board.  They do one small thing / take one small action every day or at every interaction.  This small action everyday adds up overtime and this snowball of goodness gets very large over time to the point it start growing on its own with even less effort than before.  These high performers are not doing anything special.  They just have the determination to do the simple things everyday consistently.   Treating someone with respect and kindness is not difficult.  It is not a deep secret from some secret society.  It is common knowledge but seldom practiced with consistency.

If you don’t like what you are doing, STOP NOW.  Life is too short to mess around doing something you dislike.  Take the time to figure what you want to do to earn a living and then make a plan on getting there as soon as possible.  When you get there, dump the garbage and never look back.  When you are doing something you enjoy, the extra hours in the batting cage going from the minor leagues to the Hall of Fame becomes very easy and fun.  This fun and enthusiasm then becomes contagious to everyone around you.

What are you doing extra to make yourself a top performer?  Got a plan?  Are you taking small steps every day to get there?

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