What If We Focused on Helping All the Time?

A while back, I spoke at our local junior high’s Career Day. There were four groups of about 12 to 15 students that came through the classroom, all eighth graders. While the general topic was “careers,” I took the opportunity to hopefully lay a bit of a foundation for any career those kids might end up choosing.

I explained the concept of “helping vs. selling” and how none of us likes to be SOLD, but that we’d much rather be HELPED in making the right buying decision.

Although I do believe most of them paid attention enough to grasp the concept, I’m 100 percent sure a few of them had no idea why I was even there and what the heck I was talking about!

What got me thinking a little later was this: What if everyone focused on helping all the time?

Literally. What if it was our sole purpose to help people – our family, our friends, our coworkers, our boss, our clients, the random dude on the street corner?

And, let’s take it a step further…what if we actually GOT PAID to be helpful? That changes everything, doesn’t it?

What if every time you helped a customer – whether they bought anything or not – you got paid? What if every time a potential client read one of your educational blog posts, a ten dollar bill spit out of your computer? What if every time someone downloaded your FREE informative e-book, you received a $50 credit in your bank account?

What if the world’s salespeople became “helpeople” – and “Help people” was the first bullet point on every single job description – from CEO to Maintenance?

It’s actually not that much of a stretch to believe we all get paid to help people already. It’s just a matter of perspective. Think about these actions:

• Someone calls in and you help by answering a question.
• You write a blog answering the top 10 questions you hear from customers all the time.
• You give a referral to a vendor.
• Your customer support team produces a video explaining how to install your product.
• A customer walks into your store with a problem you can’t solve; but you connect them with another company who can help.

In each of these cases, you will ultimately get paid because of what you’ve done. It may not be at that exact moment – and it may not even be from that particular person; but what you’ve done is established credibility, you’ve built trust, you’ve started (or strengthened) a relationship. And, in a million other ways, when you help, you are getting paid.

Happy helping!