Selfless service isn’t nice. It’s not a “nice to have” or some kind of cushy, comfortable thought. It’s a way of life, a strategic way to run a business— a way to truly achieve success. I’ve long removed the thought of selfless service being “nice” and you should too. To transform selfless service from just being nice, to a bad-ass business strategy, you have to be consistent in your actions and more importantly, you have to act. Put selfless service ideals into action within your business to experience long term, resounding success.

Now, not everyone’s business is the same and different strategies will have different responses within your business. Do, however, go out of your comfort zone to achieve success with this strategy.  Selfless service strategies can be put into place in any relationship you have, whether that’s with clients, partners, or employees. You have to start somewhere so why not start with these seven ideas?

1. Clients, Partners, & Employees: No Task is Too Big, or Too Small

Whomever you encounter in life, there’s always going to be something that individual struggles with. The roadblock for most companies is, if the problem doesn’t directly relate with their business, they assume there is nothing they can do to help. To truly serve a company and invest in them, you need to do anything and everything in your power to help them achieve success—and I mean anything. Go above and beyond your normal services, even if the problems don’t relate with your business. If your client is having a hard time finding someone to care for their dog while on vacation, volunteer to pet-sit for them. A little bit of extra care can go a long way when it comes to client relationships.

2. Clients & Partners: Phone a Friend

Acts of service do not have to be monetary gifts. In fact, I recommend that they aren’t. Going above and beyond to make someone’s day easier is what this strategy is all about. Phoning a friend is a great way you can serve without giving a monetary gift. When a friend, partner, or client is looking to fill a roll in their business, offer to connect them with some people who might be good fits for their business. Be careful who you vouch for; their reputation will become your reputation.

3. Clients & Partners: Social Shout Outs

So many businesses put content out online but have a hard time getting traction with their audience. Do them a favor and hit “share” on social media. Linking back to their site shows that you’re willing to put your own online presence and reputation on the line to help their business grow. Remember, when they are successful, you are too.

4. Employees & Clients: Sponsored Lunches

Throughout any era of history, breaking bread is one of the most common to resolve conflict or build community. If so many generations before us have found success with this act, why wouldn’t you add that same solution to your business?

Some of the best memories you can make, and the strongest relationships are built over a meal. So invite your team, partners, and clients. We all have one thing in common, we all need to eat— and dare I say, everyone loves free food—so making the experience enjoyable, is definitely an act of service.

5. Clients & Partners: Letting Companies Host an Event At Your Business

If you have a conference room that can seat fifty and it’s not being used Monday night at 7 pm, offer that space to your clients to host an event. One of the costliest aspects of event planning is finding a location that fits your needs within your budget – especially for a tight turnaround.

6. Clients: Free Before the Fee

Offering services before charging a fee can show dedication. Because there is no price tag associated with the task, your client will feel that you are invested in the success of their business. Because of this, they are likely to give you real, paying business because they already know your intentions are pure.

By serving companies and employees in areas of their lives that don’t directly relate with your business, builds loyalty and helps to promote good will.

7. Clients, Employees, Partners: Listen

While it sounds like the easiest thing to accomplish, many people struggling with listening. Listen not just to hear, but to understand—step in their shoes and understand the struggles, challenges, and pain points of your clients, employees, and partners. In most cases, people aren’t hiding, they will openly tell you things about their lives that can guide you to the right strategy to serve them. While it may not be as common for someone to exactly tell you how they need to be helped, they can give you a deeper understanding into what would make the most impact on their life.

While we highly encourage acts of selflessness here at Keyser, it’s important to be smart about who and when you serve. Don’t give everything you have until you bleed. Act with the intention to help, give when you can, think hard about solutions, but don’t put yourself or your business in a bad situation just to help. Opportunities to serve will constantly arise. Your opportunity is out there, you just need to listen to hear it’s call.

Would you rather be liked or respected? Why can’t you be both? You can, however, it’s a rarity when you find someone who is able to do both successfully. Only being liked puts you at risk for being taken advantage of and only being respected can lead to employees who are scared to connect with you. Once you’ve fallen too far on either end of the spectrum, it’s hard to return.

Culture is derived from the style of leadership, then is transferred down into the relationships between employees. When employees feel respected by their boss, they are more likely to pass that respect to other employees. For most aspects of life, especially in business, I believe that what you put in is what you get back. If you feed the people around you positivity, they usually will reciprocate. The same goes for negativity, if you put negativity into the environment, it will spread like wildfire.

During my time as a business leader, I’ve noticed some commonalities between most businesses. They want to retain employees and empower them to produce good work. If they know what they want, why is determining the steps to get there so hard? There’s no cookie-cutter answer. What works for one business may not work for yours. That’s why it’s important to not just set a plan in motion and forget about it but to listen to feedback and tailor the plan to fit your team. Some industries, age groups, and type of employee respond to different things. For example, start-ups tend to provide a fun, fast-paced environment because they normally can’t provide other amenities that larger corporations can.

While culture may not be every business’s top priority, it still can be a top contributing factor that helps to retain good employees, thus valuable to invest in. If you’re not trying to balance your business on that fine line between too fun and too strict, maybe it’s time to start.

Fun in the office doesn’t necessarily mean ping pong tournaments, pizza parties, and group outings—although those things are all great ways to encourage community. Fun elements alone will not make the culture strong. There has to be a level of respect, hard work, and excellence in your tasks established before fun elements can take place. By concentrating on communication, you can cultivate a bond with your employees that allows them to trust you and value your opinion.

Rather than thinking you want a fun environment, aim for a culture that makes your employees proud to be a part of your company. Set an example for your team with these three leadership strategies to encourage a strong culture. 

1. Everything is a Gift.

I believe that every single thing you encounter is a gift. Whether most people would view it as positive or negative, it’s a gift.

When your client decides they no longer are in need of your services, it’s a gift. How? Perhaps, that client was about to enter into a scandal that would have left your legal team with a huge mess.

If you’ve ever seen a movie about time travel, you know that future outcomes are changed because of life events, so unless you’re able to travel back, change events, and see how things would have unfolded, just accept the event as a gift. After all, I would say avoiding an expensive and time-consuming lawsuit is definitely a gift.

2. Simplify the Challenge.

There’s nothing worth doing in life that doesn’t come with challenges. Every challenge big or small can feel overwhelming if it occurs at the wrong time. When people are counting on you, you have to keep calm and think strategically. In these situations, you have to remove yourself from the fire and dissect the problem until it is broken into simple, easy-to-manage pieces. Here’s an example: your goal is to launch a new product line in your business. Now that’s a massive goal that would make any sane person pull their hair out. If you break this task down into pieces that can be completed in steps or delegated to others, it will feel much more accomplishable.

3. Invest Yourself.

The most important aspect of your business is your people. If you have a kick-ass product but a team not fit to sell, promote, and build it. The product becomes useless. Invest your time into getting to know your people, what makes them tick, what makes them feel valued, then use that information to inspire and encourage them to produce better, more valuable work.

As a leader, your day is packed. It may feel like you have no spare time to chit-chat about your employee’s love for golf, their dog, or whatever else. Make time. People are more loyal to companies that they feel valued at and listening is one of the easiest, most effective way to make people feel valued.

There are many ways to build the culture you’ve always wanted, and it doesn’t start with pool tables and snacks—it starts with you. Lead and develop your team so that it is based on mutual respect. After you’ve established the tone of your culture, sprinkle in the fun elements to help your employees have an extra element to look forward to when coming into the office.