Most people run their business thinking about what will be best for them. Most entrepreneurs and business owners operate in a short sighted manner. They are slowly or sometimes more aggressively, killing off the geese that lay these beautiful golden eggs for their company. This killing is because they are neglecting the most important asset in their life...their customers. Through poor relationships and thoughtless interactions, customer loyalty crumbles and value diminishes. But, it doesn’t have to be this way.

The goose that lays the golden eggs for you each and every month is, of course, each individual customer that you have and serve. These are the profit makers and wealth creators for you. The obvious questions are – are you doing everything you can to make them the best customers for you? Are you doing everything you can to make yourself the best for your customers? The most obvious answer is no. For the most part, you can always do more to improve your customer service.

The 6 Golden Eggs of Customer Interaction create long lasting loyalty that drives referrals, creates repeat business, and builds the value of your most important asset in your company: your customer relationships. If there was one part of your business that deserves all of your attention, it’s your customers.

Really there are only two types of people in our lives, those that are not our customers and those that are. You ought to be giving the right ones the priority and attention in your life. You probably haven’t heard the fable of the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg in a long, long time. Ol’ Aesop sure was prolific in writing his now famous fables. Most of them can be directly related to today’s businesses and business environment, but none more so than the fable about the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg.

If you remember Aesop’s story, the owner of the goose that laid the golden eggs chopped off the goose’s head in order to get at all the golden eggs he thought were just inside. Every day I see business people doing the exact same thing...the only exception is that it’s what they are doing to their business — not some poor helpless goose. The effect is just as tragic for your business as it was for the goose.

Let's not let tragedy hit. Here are the six golden eggs for customer interaction: 

Golden Egg No. 1 — Listening to your customers
You can use the power of surveying and questioning of your customers in order to get their perspective of your company. Their opinion is the real one that matters and it is important for you to know it. Most entrepreneurs and business owners operate for their own convenience. Through poor relationships and thoughtless interactions, customer loyalty crumbles and value diminishes.

The geese that lay the golden eggs for you each and every month is, of course, each individual customer that you have and serve. They are your profit makers and wealth creators. The obvious questions to ask yourself are:

• Are you doing everything you can to make them the best customers for you?
• Are you doing everything you can to make yourself the best for your customer? 

Just like any relationship, this whole listening thing is everything and more that it’s hyped up to be ... you just have to do it. Pay attention to what your customers are saying. 

Golden Egg No. 2 — the Power of WOW!

Why do people pay exorbitant amounts of money to go to Disney World? In my opinion, it is the wow factor. The clean parks, the cute characters, the rides, the customer service, and the spectacles. Disney works very hard to ensure that its customers are getting the best experience ever. They want people to leave saying "wow" and that is how you want your customers to leave too. 

Golden Egg No. 3 — Get it Right

The third egg has to do with simply getting it right. But I don’t know anyone that does get everything right all the time. These four words may be the trickiest to execute but if you can get this right ... watch out because you will control your customer like a puppet. They will have their friends and family lining up to join in the ranks of the loyal and valued customers for you and your business. 

Golden Eggs No. 4 and No. 5 — This is for Me

The fourth and fifth golden eggs work hand in hand. They are so powerful together that they are almost dangerous to put into the wrong hands. This one-two punch is the ultimate loyalty and sales secret weapon but it is NOT about selling; in fact, the farthest thing from it.  

We call it the “this is for me!” strategy. Do your customers say that when they see your products or services? I doubt it. At least they don’t do it fast enough with enough decisiveness to allow you to charge premium prices or to accelerate your sales cycle in order to maximize your profits.

Golden Egg No. 6 -- Protect your Egg

Sometimes you’ve just got to get a grip and admit you don’t know it all, do enough, or try as hard as you could to make money. Golden Egg No. 6 is not for the faint of heart, but it is the one that combines the powers of all the others and leads to the biggest profits and breakthroughs for you.

But, this is the one bad egg of the bunch, the rotten one if you will. Of course it only goes bad if you don’t know it, ignore it or neglect it. If you embrace it though, you will be empowered to multiply your business success and income as easily as cracking an egg.

They key is how to protect your golden geese. Just imagine what would have happened if that man from  Aesop’s fable would have protected his special goose. How long would it have laid the famous golden eggs? How much wealth would that man have accumulated? We don’t know, but we do know that it would have been a heck of a lot more than he ended up with in the fable. Remember, just when he started to become more wealthy and experience more success, he tried to go cheap. He tried to take shortcuts without a plan. He tried to usurp the process of waiting until each precious golden egg was laid. The only success that got him was in destroying the only thing in his life that produced wealth.

Finally, please remember that your customers are not the golden eggs! They are the golden geese! If there was one part of your business that deserves all of your attention, it’s your customers! Honestly, I can’t wait to see your face when you are enlightened with these tweaks to your sales, marketing, deliverables and customer experience. If you are interested in learning more, click below.