As I was successfully herding my seven-year-old son towards his carpool ride this morning, I had an epiphany; managing a child is a lot like handling a customer. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not comparing my customers to children (although, on occasion, we’ve both acted as such); I’m simply saying that I’ve learned at least five things that apply to both.
Everybody wants to be the #1 son.
My seven-year-old doesn’t care about my eleven-year-old’s time requirements or other needs; he wants DOD (aka “Daddy on Demand”). Your customer wants to have your attention and be a priority at all times. Just because you are slammed with work for another customer, doesn’t mean you can neglect #1. (See also, “The Customer Is Always Right.”)
Setting clear expectations for your child is imperative.
A kid craves structure: when to get up, what chores have to be done and what time to expect dinner. Telling your son “maybe” when he asks for a “real” drum kit, gets heard as “yes.” Trust me, I learned about this the hard (loud) way. Be very clear with your customer about what to expect, and repeat when necessary (e.g. often).
Sometimes your child wants to be told “no.”
When your little one decides he hates his Spiderman costume at 4:30 pm on Halloween and demands that he get an Angry Bird suit instead; the answer is “no,” unless he wants to try and trick-or-treat on Thanksgiving. He didn’t really want to shed his Spidey skin; he just wanted to test how far he could push it with you. Stand firm. Likewise, when your customer asks if it’s possible to change his creative/design at the eleventh hour, it maybe his way of asking you to tell his creative director “no.” Change orders (& associated costs) also help with this.
When my son tells me that something is wrong, something usually is.
Very, very important. When my boy tells me that his stomach hurts when I know everything is OK, something else is amiss. My job isn’t telling him that his GI tract is perfectly healthy; it’s diagnosing what the real trouble is. If the customer is unhappy, the reason he states may not be the actual pain point. In other words, ask questions and listen. Obvious, but frequently not done!
Sleep is critical.
My kid depends on me; if he feels unloved, unsafe, unheard and/or not taken care of fully, he won’t sleep well at night. And nobody wants to tangle with a 2nd grader on five hours of sleep. Your customer is depending on you to do your job and then some. If you don’t make him feel secure that you are solving his problem, he’s not going to sleep well and nobody needs a cranky customer!
- CB
Andrew Sielen
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