Businesses send messages to customers all the time. Sometimes they are intended and sometimes not.

I was getting some work done on my car and had to use the restroom. I walked in and …AAAHHHH!!! It was like a dingy truck stop in the middle of nowhere. But I couldn’t wait. Business had to be done. Yuck.

What’s the point?

I am always surprised at how much businesses do to demonstrate how much they care about doing a good job while simultaneously demonstrating how little they care about the people they are doing the job for.

Customers don’t just want to get things done they want to know their wellbeing is part of the formula. Getting a job done while being told that you, as a person, don’t matter, leaves a bad taste. It feels like being used.

Buc-ees, the chain of huge convenience-store gas stations, has long won cleanest bathroom in the US awards. They are known far and wide for this and they are proud of it. They advertise it. And with these ultra-clean bathrooms, they send a big message, “We care about our customers’ wellbeing!” The result? Trust and repeat business.

Why?

Because customers don’t just want the job done, they want to know they matter. It’s no different than any other relationship. Whether friend, date, spouse, children, co-workers, students, patients, whoever, people want to feel that they and their hopes, dreams, and problems are being considered. They want to know that you are concerned about them and not just yourself.

Look around at your business. What messages do you send? Do you show customers that you care? Do your bathrooms—or products, processes, website, stores, etc.—tell customers they matter?

Anything you can do to send the message that you are concerned about them as much as or more than yourself will only help you be more successful.

Got it? Go do something about it.

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