This is our final look at the key words that we’ve discovered at the foundation of redefining customers as guests or clients.  So far, we’ve looked at welcome and honor and today we’re going to look at protection.

When someone is invited into our house, we certainly want to welcome them and honor them with undue respect and treatment; however, we often don’t think about the steps we often take without thinking to protect them.  Think about it, when someone comes as an overnight guest in your home, don’t you let them know about the weird things in your house?  Maybe you have a faucet that drips and might make a little noise in the night so you let them know, or maybe your hot water is really hot and you want to warn them to be careful.  We all do these kinds of things so that our guests are free from harm.

What about the people who patronize our businesses?  What are some things that we should do to protect them?  Do you have a policy that is in fine print and you never mention it because it might hurt a sale?  Do you know of a possible issue they might have yet you conveniently keep silent about it until after the sale?  This is the antithesis of protection.  It lacks integrity and suggests selfish motivations.

Look, our customers are why we exist in business and we must consider how all of our decisions might hurt them…not us…them.  When someone visits your home, it’s not about you, it’s about them.  Why are customers any different?

Does your business have policies and procedures that are there to protect the company but are not necessarily in the best interests of the customer?  Take a look at these things and think hard about whether you are protecting your customers or potentially putting them in jeopardy.  What can be changed, what can be adjusted?

Customers’ best interests should be your company’s interests….first.  Protecting them is the duty of service.  We can smile and charm all we want, but if we are not protecting them from danger, we are missing the real point.  What is your business doing to protect your clients?  What needs to be reviewed?  What policies are really solely for you and not for them?  What decisions are in process that have not been looked at from the perspective of the customer’s best interests?

If you want to serve well surely you must welcome and honor your customers, but most of all, you must protect them from the dangers of failure and financial harm by putting their interests first.