Business and Mercy…do they mix?

My business is a very customer service oriented entity.  We sell a commodity and the only way to separate ourselves from the competition is by focusing our product around the wants and needs of our customers.  The key to great customer service has and will always be building solid relationships and these relationships are built on solid communication.  The strength of any relationship you have is directly proportionate to the effectiveness of communication going on in that relationship.  I find it more and more challenging today to find customers who are willing to communicate…which means they talk you listen, you talk they listen.  They seek to understand and then be understood and you seek to understand and then be understood…the goal is to create a win-win.

The industry I am in is under great stress these days as all entities that interact and work with each other are dependent upon the federal government for reimbursement…you guessed it I am in HEALTH CARE!  This in turn puts a tremendous strain on all parties because everyone is being asked to do more for less.  We all see innovation as a way to relieve ourselves of this stress but we aren’t there yet.  So every now and then I run into a customer that just cracks me up.  They have this passive-agressive approach, you don’t hear from them for a long time but when you do it is nothing but ugly.  Why can’t people sit and reason?

I make no bones about my faith.  I am not a “religious” type in fact I am still working on being merciful towards “religious” people, I am spiritual and a Christian and my role model in all I do is Jesus.  A few weeks ago my pastor preached about being “Merciful” to others instead of “Judgemental.”  I’ve always tried to keep that in mind as I deal with customers who become emotional, irrational and just plain stupid.  This past week my team had to deal with an irrational customer and it would have been easy to simply give in to their needs or just give up and let them seek a new vendor and walk away.  But as the leader of my company and a follower of Christ, I felt a responsibility to sit down with this customer, hear them out and then have them hear me out in a merciful way.  So we scheduled a face to face meeting next week.  This will be an opportunity for me to witness and be merciful and not judgemental.  Whether I keep the account or not is not my concern.  I feel it in my heart that these people need to see mercy and I will be the sacrificial lamb.  Being merciful does not mean being a doormat but it means being able to listen to another without judging them.  As a Christ follower I have the Holy Spirit in me and Paul describes the fruits of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22…”love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”  These are the characteristics of being merciful.

Oh yeah, another reason I am going to meet face to face with these people and show mercy is because someone did that to me a long time ago when I was emotional, irrational and just plain stupid…go figure.  You can’t keep what you have unless you give it away.

P.E.A.C.E.