It's not business, it's personal.
In the past week I’ve met with approximately 30 people – a mix of both vendors and clients. When meeting or greeting these 30 or so people, I gave or received a hug from 11 of them. Now, I know that’s a strange thing to keep track of and I usually wouldn’t tally up a hug list (cause that’s weird), but clearly this hugging phenomenon triggered a response because here I am blogging about it.
I’ve been pondering this all weekend in anticipation of today’s post but find what I’m trying to say hard to put into words. Maybe all the warm and fuzzy feelings have gone to my head and I’m reading too much into it, but those hugs represent the way I want to do business. I’m not saying we all need to replace handshakes with hugs so don’t start running the other way! :) I am saying my company and the way I do business are defined by the relationships built. In my opinion, the people I genuinely like to greet with a hug are certainly people I want to continue doing business with both as client and provider. These people are or are becoming good friends. I mean how much fun is it to work with all your friends every single day?
Am I being too much of a romantic? I don’t think so. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the old saying that people do business with people they know, like and trust. Isn’t a hug a good indication of all that? I know I wouldn’t spend my time and money with people I don’t enjoy working with.
So really business isn’t always just business. It’s people and it’s very personal.
Peace + Love + Furniture
Courtnay
I was one of the 11 — and you are spot on!!! Love it! :)
That’s right on lady! :)
how come I wasn’t one of the 11? Must still be mad about that KU game, huh?! :)
Seriously interesting topic, though!
And it’s funny because I have found myself on several occasions in meetings with 2 or 3 females, some I know better than the others, and I find myself torn about hugging one and not the other; or giving all 3 handshakes and hoping I don’t hurt anyone’s feelings! Or worse yet – doing a kiss on the cheek with one but only hugging the others!! When business gets personal it sometimes also gets complicated!!
Bottom line – even after Seinfeld did an entire show on the topic of, the issue has still never been settled!! LOL!
LOL – I have to see you to hug you! :)
Courtnay – great post. It’s an interesting topic to think about (since it tends to happen spur of the moment), but I think the more important aspect is the idea of developing a tangible idea of the people that you want to work with.
Not that everyone has to hug, but that you want to build relationships first – that becomes one of your core tenets as a business…which I think is a pretty cool way to start.
Thanks for sharing,
Shawn
[...] First and foremost, Courtnay is a people person – in my opinion you’d be hard pressed to find someone more likeable and trustworthy. So it’s not a surprise that she is consciously building the importance of relationships into her business processes. In a recent blog post she explains how It’s not Business, it’s Personal. [...]
[...] Courtnay is all about relationships…with her vendors, her partners and most importantly with her customers. She did a great job describing her approach in a blog post a couple of months ago – It’s not business it’s personal! [...]