Expert Ownership Podcast
Expert Ownership Podcast
Establishing Safety Measures In Business
Our #1 core human need is safety. Before you can accomplish anything, you must know that you're safe. The same is true in business - if you want to build a business that lasts, you must establish safety measures for the people who interact with your company.
Today, we'll give you the four types of people and the six types of safety to help you thrive in business. Enjoy!
So today, on expert ownership, we're going to talk about safety measures in your business, because the number one core human need security. By the way, the five core needs security, identity, purpose, competence and belonging. We've talked about that many times. But today we're going to talk about security Security for those that interact with your brand or interact with your company, so your customers and your clients. Also for the people that haven't bought, the prospects, that are just looking. But then also for your employees, those that work for you, your contractors, those that work with you, your vendors, those that you work with. And so how do we establish safety measures in our business so that people feel safe, not just physically safe, relationally, emotionally, spiritually, financially. So we want to talk about these things.
Speaker 1:We just got back from Life Surge Boise and after Jason and I spoke in the morning, we were on the campus of Boise State University at their basketball gymnasium. We had maybe about 4,000 people there. Jason and I were like man, it is beautiful outside, let's go, look at the blue football field, let's walk around campus. So the two of us are walking around campus and after we saw the football team working out and all that stuff, it was really cool. I want both of us. We walked down this long path. It was beautiful and we saw that there's this big crane that's picking up stuff, you know, and putting things together for a new dorm room or just a new building for the kids to become dorms, and it was massive and it was cool because they had this large perimeter fence. So this fence around the perimeter and on the fence you know they have, it's like you know, the almost like the privacy fence, where you have this banner hanging and it blocks the view from looking inside and on the outside, it said these you cannot enter the fence, you cannot enter these premises without. And then it had like five pictures the first was a hard hat, the next was a pair of gloves, the next were safety glasses, the next was over the ankle steel toe boots and then I forgot whatever the fifth one was.
Speaker 1:But it was very clear like you cannot come on this job site if these five safety measures are not controlled. These five safety measures are not in place, because what we're saying is it's not safe to be here. It's a good place because it's going to be wonderful as a dorm, but there are some things that you need to be aware of, just to make sure that you're safe if you're going to come inside this perimeter. And that just spurred Jason goes dude. You know what that actually makes sense for all of business. Let's just do a podcast. Let's just hash this thing. Let's have a conversation over our podcast talking about the safety measures in business, on how to really engage people in a faith-filled way that makes them feel safe and secure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it got me thinking about the five core human needs and how that need for security is number one. So if the need for security and if your security is not taken care of first, then none of the other needs mean anything, right? So if you've got to take care of security first, it's the same thing that all of you did last night when you went to bed you locked your door. So you locked your door on the outside. Why? Because you had to feel safe before you could fall asleep. Does your body need sleep? Yeah, can you sleep if you don't feel secure? No, so what do we need to take care of first? Security. So safety is the number one core human need. That's why, all through the Bible, we see God telling us trust in Him. To trust Him, because that's what security does? It asks the question who can I trust? So we, ultimately, can trust God.
Speaker 1:But as I was looking at that building and we stayed in downtown Boise and I was looking at all the other buildings and I was thinking you know the things in life, you know things like building like that, buildings like that, they're created twice first in the mind and then in reality. And things in life are always built twice first in your mind and then reality, your business it happens first in your mind and then in reality. You know, and I was looking at those buildings and thinking about that, that new dorm that's being built at Boise and seeing the fence around it, and I thought you know what? There there had to be someone who thought of, hey, I want to put a dorm right here on this raw piece of land. And then they got their blueprints printed and then what's the first thing that they had to do? They had to then establish safety measures Before they even broke ground. They put the fence around that ground, okay, and they have all their safety measures in place because they know the only way that building is going to get built is with people and in order to get the building built, we have to protect those people. So let's establish our safety measures first before we build it and as we build it, so that we ultimately can build it and not have any fatalities, not have any injuries or accidents.
Speaker 1:And I was thinking about that in terms of business. In business, this is such a good principle that we have to establish our safety measures first when building a company. If people don't feel safe, then your business will fail. Okay, it's not just physically safe Well, that's what I'm about to get into all that Intuitively safe, like they're just money. So what does safety look like in your business? Well, like what David was doing right there, we need to consider a couple of things. First, we're going to consider the type of people in your business, and then we're going to consider the different types of safety.
Speaker 1:Well, let's look first at the different types of people in your business. You got customers and clients, so people who are buying from you, yeah, people who do business with you. This is where the revenue comes in. So you got customers. You got clients. Well, you also got non-buyers and prospects. These are people that can potentially do business with you. They're going to possibly interact with you, but they may or may not buy from you. Okay, they're non-buyers and prospects. That's your sales department. No, no, no, no, no, that's your sales department. Yeah, when you've got employees and contractors, that's the different types of people. That's another type of people. You've got your employees and your contractors. Those employees and contractors are dealing with non-buyers and prospects. They're dealing with customers and clients. Okay, so that's your third type of person. Then you've got the vendors. Those are people that you hire to do certain things for your business, or they serve, they give you the products and all of the other things, but they're interacting with you. Whether you're paying for stuff or they're paying you for stuff, they're always interacting with you. Yeah, so there's. There's the different types of people. You got customers, clients. You got non-buyers and prospects. You got employees and contractors. People work for you. Then you got your, your vendors. So those are types of people.
Speaker 1:But now let's look at the types of safety. We like what we were seeing when we saw that construction site. It's like we care for your physical safety, like they had a fence around it. That fence protected the people who had nothing. They were not employees of that builder, but that builder knew that there's going to be students walking past this building as we construct it at all times. So they had to put a fence up that protects people from stepping into a pothole. Well, who are the people they were protecting At that point? They weren't protecting their employees, they weren't protecting their contractors. They were protecting the prospects, the students who would one day be living in that building, who would one day be using that building, but not right now. They're not working on it. So they put a fence around it so people could not get in there and hurt themselves. So it's physical safety.
Speaker 1:It's almost like you own a car lot and a 21-year-old comes and he can afford that Ford Raptor at $80,000, but that's not what's best for him. You have to put up a fence to say no, whoa, whoa, slow down. But that's you know in real life. We did the same thing when the family's like well, the top of my budget is 500,000. And then I would always start asking them about their you know their family, their budget, their income. And even though mortgage brokers are supposed to be doing that, mortgage lenders are doing that. But I would like try to help them. I, even though mortgage brokers are supposed to be doing that, mortgage lenders are doing that, but I would try to help them. I'd be like you know what? We need to be looking in the 300 range, yeah, okay. So now, david, you jumped ahead of me the types of safety.
Speaker 1:I'm talking physical safety right now. So if you've got a car lot and you've got people coming into your car lot, well then you need to make sure that you don't have massive potholes in your parking lot. Do you know what I'm saying? Because you've got people who are going to be walking around it. So, physical safety you're thinking physical safety first. It's like you have to think physical safety. That's a type of safety. Second, there's emotional safety. You want people to feel taken care of emotionally, like you actually care about them. There's mental safety. We're going to talk about this. What I mean by mental safety? In a second, because as a salesperson, you can easily take advantage of somebody Because you know more than they do and you might understand certain techniques to try to get them to buy something. You've got relational safety you need to make sure that you're paying attention to. You want to take care of their whole family. You don't want to just take care of them. You want to take care of their whole family. You don't want to just take care of them, you want to make their whole family feel safe.
Speaker 1:You got spiritual safety, which is number one that if you don't do good business as a kingdom-minded entrepreneur, you realize you and if somebody knows that you're a believer, you could keep that person from God Because you didn't do good work, or you could wound their faith. Yeah, I mean, that definitely happens. You wound their faith. And then you've got financial safety. That's where David was talking about earlier. Like, yeah, don't sell them that Raptor, maybe they need a Ford Lariat, because you know your job is to take care of people financially and never to take advantage of anybody. All you have to do is read Psalm 15. And if you ever found yourself in a position to where somebody wants to do business with you and you're charging them way too much, then God removes his protection from you. Like Psalm 15 will freak you out. So those are the types of things.
Speaker 1:You've got the types of people customers and clients, our non-buyers and prospects, our employees and contractors and our vendors. And then we have the types of safety. How can I protect them physically, emotionally, mentally, relationally, spiritually, financially? So that's the question. So there's one question that will help you establish safety measures in your business. How can I protect these people? Which people, the people I just said your customers, clients, non-buyers, prospects, employees, contractors, vendors how can I protect them in the certain ways? How can I protect them physically? How can I protect them emotionally? How can I protect them mentally and relationally, spiritually and, ultimately, financially? So let's just look real quick at a couple of these your customers and clients. How can I protect my customers and clients?
Speaker 1:Well, here's one way you can do it. You can manage their expectations. You can clearly put the expectations of what it would look like to do business with you and you can put those expectations out front so they know exactly who you are and what you offer and how you can help them. And then you exceed those expectations and then, when they buy from you, you have radical customer service. That's how you protect people who do business with you. Radical customer service what does that mean? It means, possibly, giving them full refunds when necessary, if they're not completely happy. Give them full refunds. Guess what you're doing? You're protecting them financially. I'm sorry, go ahead, jay. No, I was going to say. And as you're protecting them financially, guess what else you're doing? You're protecting them mentally, you're protecting them emotionally, you're protecting them spiritually.
Speaker 1:They're saying okay, I can trust this company, I can trust this person, because disappointment is the gap between expectation and reality. So you have to be clear on the expectations and, better, make sure you're clear on the delivery, because when you don't, you disappoint them and that disappointment that's not safe. I mean it's not physically safe, but it's not safe. Now they can't trust you anymore. So emotionally, mentally, it's like they're not safe, they can't trust you. You do not want to create the gap between expectation and reality. Be very clear up front and make sure you deliver and over deliver to the best of your ability. You know that's so. We're saying how do you help? That's the question.
Speaker 1:How can I protect my customers and clients so that they trust us and that they're safe? And I'll tell you one thing that you can over communicate after they've purchased from you. Don't stop communicating just because you got the clothes, you got the deal. No, over-communicate, because in the absence of communication, negativity fills the void. You want them to feel safe.
Speaker 1:So how can you protect your customers and clients? There's a few ways. How can I protect my non-buyers and prospects? How do I protect them in my business? Well, I can tell you one way is no high-pressure sales. That's why people don't feel safe going out to a car dealership, except after hours on a Saturday night. Why do they do that? Because they know that they're not going to be approached by a salesperson. Well, how did that happen? It happened because of high-pressured salespeople in the auto industry, which not all of them are, but some of them are, and therefore people don't feel safe going out to a car dealership when it's open.
Speaker 1:Like, don't manipulate the little old woman who's got a lot of money and you convince her to buy something that's way more than what she needs. Don't do that. You know, the old saying goes everybody wants to buy but nobody wants to be sold. So selling is not technically selling. If you're going to do it, the proper way and a safe way is presenting opportunities to buy, in other words, presenting the opportunities and then helping navigate them on which one they should take, because you're putting them first. That's why Jason referenced Psalm 15. And I don't know if you have it open. I don't. You can read it, not all of it, I'll open it here in a minute.
Speaker 1:But you consider others first and when you do that, you're taking time and you're putting the soul over the sale, and that creates a safety for their faith, especially if you're going to be a very forward Christian in business. Because if you're protecting one thing, you're going to protect the other, because if you're protecting one thing, you're going to protect the other. You can see, if you're thinking, how can I protect non-buyers and prospects? How can I protect them financially? I don't want to take advantage of them. Then guess what, when you protect them financially, you end up protecting them mentally. You protect them emotionally. You protect them spiritually because you are a safe person to do business with.
Speaker 1:How about your employees and contractors? How can we protect them? Well, number one, you can not overwork them. Don't give them 60 hours of work and pay them for 40 hours. Don't do that. That's not safe. You can create a healthy culture inside your business that feels like family, so they feel safe, they feel protected. You can establish psychological safety. Psychological safety is when everybody can put their opinions on the table and nobody feels shamed or shunned because of their opinion.
Speaker 1:Or one of the things I've found in my own life was sometimes, as a leader, someone will come and give you an idea. Or maybe say, hey, here's what I was thinking, and you in your mind already know, like six moves down the board, what that would create, because you've been in the business long enough, you've been around long enough and you just immediately get that's not going to work because boom, boom, boom, boom. Well, that actually doesn't create safety for them. The first thing you should say that actually doesn't create safety for them. The first thing you should say, hey, thanks for thinking about that. You know that's a really good idea.
Speaker 1:Now, you know, believe it or not, I've actually tried that, and then you can explain it that way. But the first thing I do is validate the fact that they were thinking about the business, thinking about the company, thinking about things. You validate it first I've learned the hard way with that and then, because when I didn't validate first you know, as the Bible teaches us, be slow to speak and quick to listen when I didn't validate first and I just went right to the bottom line, I actually wounded I've wounded a couple of people doing like they don't want to come back to me, they don't really want to think, because I didn't validate the fact that they were thinking about the business. So another thing you can do with your employees and contract, invest in their personal growth and health, like take care of them, send them out to a team building retreat, then you can get, get feedback and listen to them. You can get feedback and listen to them. That'll make them feel safe. And then the last group and I'll just end with this your vendors, the people that you actually do business with and that help you accomplish your business.
Speaker 1:Here's the number one thing that you can do when it comes to establishing safety for your vendors Pay them on time, pay everything that you owe them and pay them on time. And then guess what? You will protect them financially. You're going to protect them relationally. You're going to protect them mentally, emotionally, even physically, because they need their physical needs met. And then, ultimately, the most important protection of all is spiritually. So that's what you can do.
Speaker 1:This is so important when we're talking about safety measures in business. How can I make my customers and clients feel safe? How can I make my non-buyers and prospects? How can I protect them? How can I protect my employees and contractors and how can I make my vendors feel safe? You can do it. You can do it physically, emotionally, mentally, relationally, financially and spiritually, you can do it. Put first, trust him, and when you do that, you're going to have a safe place for people to do business and you will have a business that will last, and that is the only type of business that an expert owner can have. Okay, we are faith-filled entrepreneurs who put god's kingdom above our own, and, uh, so this is important. So, anyways, thanks guys, thanks for hanging out with us. I learned a little lesson as I was walking around downtown Boise, applied it to business and hopefully it was a blessing to you guys. Thank you, chm Christian Healthcare Ministries, for sponsoring this podcast. You can go to check them out at chministriescom and in the meantime, we'll see you guys next week. Peace.