The Joy of Helping Others

One of my clients is getting successful, I mean really, really successful. He’s starting to get the hang of things that we are coaching about and people are starting to respond to him more and more. They’re not only responding to him, they’re actually cheering him on and trying to help him. These aren’t just typical clients either, they’re big, big clients.

When this sort of thing happens, it’s exciting and rewarding. As a coach, it’s the feeling that you always want to get, and when you do, you feel like a proud mama! It’s so cool to see that the strengths that you have, being played out in another person’s life.

Here is what happened. This particular client lives in the Midwest and is a really talented person at his job. He’s in the field of law and is the type who knows every statute and every resource that is available in his particular subject. He’s the “go to guy” when anyone else has a question and he’s always quick to help. The one problem however, is that he wasn’t bringing in the big clients. He was accustomed to helping his clients when they were there, but didn’t know how to go out and “attract” the clients for his firm.

Once working together and we started assessing where he had gotten all of the clients he currently had. Most of them came through other sources at the firm and the few that he did bring in, were referrals or were preexisting customers in other departments. We started looking at what sorts of customers were going to be long term clients and what sort of person and professional he needed to be in order to have the clients calling HIM instead of his customer.

Together, he outlined five clients who were big money makers for his firm. Then we created a strategy to develop them into RAVING FANS. (That’s one of my favorite sayings… because it completely causes a chuckle and also implies that work needs to be done, and great service given before any client becomes one of these) He reviewed each client representative and outlined their personalities and their hobbies, and went to work, getting to know each of them as people, not just as customers. We worked together to develop good coaching questions, and strategies to bring value to each of his clients as HUMAN beings, and things started to click with my client.

For one, he found a vacation spot suggestion that the client’s wife was seeking. For another, he created a solution to a business problem in the other firm by finding resources. One by one, my client began to listen to his clients about their “needs” as people, and he began to serve them as “people”.

The crazy thing is how fast things have turned around. Just by focusing on the PERSON instead of the business, my client was able to forge closer relationships with his clients. Now, it seems that he’s getting all sorts of invitations, from business to personal, and honestly, he’s jumping out of his shoes! (Okay, he’s not that type of person, but I know that inside, he’s really excited when we talk!) And now, other partners at his firm are taking notice. He’s getting more respect in meetings he feels and whether it’s because he has more confidence, or that he’s being noticed more, he doesn’t care. He’s happy with how things are going.

Every time I get off a call with him, I feel elated. It’s just so exciting to help another human being reach their potential and to celebrate their success with them. I want everyone to feel this great about their work, and to feel what it feels like to help others.

I read recently that the people that are most satisfied with their work are in professions that are in the “helping professions”. Physical therapists, psychologists, ministers and the like are among the happiest in their professions. They far outrank other professions that are higher paying, but have much more stress attached, including the law, and medical professions.

If each of us made it a goal to help someone else every single day, where would we all be? Hopefully in our jobs, we can strive to serve others to the best of our ability, but even in our daily jaunts to the store or to working out, we can look for opportunities to open the door for others, or to save them a trip inside by taking their shopping cart for them. These little things can add up to a life that is serving others continually.

And when we review our lives, even if we didn’t get the chance to be on Oprah, or to make a million dollars, we can feel confident that our lives mattered. They mattered because we were able to help others, and that’s the greatest feeling of all.