Mutual Respect & Not Crossing that Line

Liking and respecting each other is everything in a great business relationship. The best case in any situation!

Awesome friends, I had a great chat with ironically another Persian Business Man today (yes friends, it’s turns out I am not the only Persian in Sydney).

I have known this man for quite a few years and he is very kind, works very hard, helps out the community and I have seen him volunteer in quite a few places.

Like myself, he is the sort of man who takes his clients very seriously and professionalism / quality of work means a lot to him.

Where we really clicked again today and compared notes on this topic where he explained to me a few clients that really pushed him unfairly and crossed the line with him.

In those situations he would work with the client, try and help them, then explain to them what is going down. If they didn’t accept a logical explanation, he would finish up with them and move on. That has happened to me a few times over the years and I really like it. I agree with the term ‘The Customer is Always Right’ as well as ‘Respect is a two way street’.

When it comes to clients, I like to be friends with them, help them and really get to know them and help them beyond what they are asking for. This may be inviting them to private events, referring them business – basically going far beyond the call of duty.

I love having clients that I totally respect on a deep level. Likewise too, I like it for them to respect me too. I have found that when they don’t, I can give them a very logical, proven argument and they may not listen.

This doesn’t help anyone in such situations and like my Persian friend said today, you both have to respect each other. Once you have crossed that ‘line of respect’ with someone, it’s really hard to come back the other side of it (and if you do make up, it’s always that thing you remember).

My advice and thinking is this friends. If you stuff up or do something wrong, you fix it right away. If you have done a great job and someone doesn’t appreciate that – make sure you explain things to them so they get it. If they then don’t take logical / reasonable thinking and disrespect you, finish up with them.

The world is a small, yet massive place and there are many people out there awesome, or even more awesome than us. Find them and help them.

Love your work, thank you my secret Persian Friend (you know who you are) and stay awesome!