Business with Heart

Business has always been a rollercoaster adventure. And we are certainly feeling that right now. Every business newsletter has a story about a company in trouble, or reports on the number of small businesses that are closing or considering closing. Costs are rising - as we are reminded every day, customers are cautious and under the influence of headlines that spew fear and hardship over abundance and hope, and many owners and leaders are watching every dollar.

And still, over the last few months, I have heard firsthand stories of grace and compassion. Of kindness and heart. These businesses are under the same pressure as everyone else, and they chose kindness. They chose consideration. They let compassion, and even love, guide how they treated the people they serve.

Here are four of those stories. Instead of the stories of condemnation and disappointment that we are so often exposed to, I want to celebrate these acts of kindness and encourage other businesses to 'pay it forward' in the same way.

Case number one Virgin Australia

A client of mine was 24 hours away from a flight when her husband became unwell. Not long before, they had been told his cancer had returned. Travel was no longer possible.

With a day to go, most of us would expect to lose something. A cancellation fee at least, and perhaps the fare itself. Instead, Virgin refunded the fare in full, including the cancellation fee that would normally apply.

Nothing in the rules required this. Someone at Virgin saw a family going through one of the hardest moments of their lives and decided the right thing mattered more than the fee.

It is rare for a company to empower its employees in this way. Many are given a script, and they stick to it. I taught negotiation skills a few moons ago. I can hear the script from thirty paces. That script didn't surface in this case. And I know there were a few tears shed. Not from relief - though that was obvious - but tears for being shown kindness in a time of turbulence. Analogy intended.

Case number two. Merry People They really do live up to their name.

Another client loved her Merry People boots. When it was raining, she even wore them on long walks. They were showing a little separation, and she wanted to know how to get them repaired. Merry People has a 12-month refund policy, and her purchase was outside that period.

She sent photos and a short history of how the boots had been worn. And asked how she might best repair them. Should she take them to a cobbler? Was this something they were familiar with? Merry People responded the next day. Even though the boots were past their usual replacement period, they would still replace them.

This is a business that trusts its customers and stands behind its products. It also knows that a customer who reaches out to repair a product, rather than replace it, is exactly the customer you want to keep.

Case number three. Indulgence Beauty Therapy

A client had purchased a product from Indulgence Beauty Therapy. She had noticed her Eye of Horus Cosmetics mascara had become 'gluggy', which was unusual for the product. She had used the product before. She loves the company and all it stands for. She wasn't asking for a refund. She wanted to know if there was anything she could add to the product to 'unglug' it. The salon had never had this issue with the product before, so they went directly to the company to see what could be done. Eye of Horus replaced the product.

A small gesture that speaks volumes about a company that stands behind the quality of its products. The customer was trying to solve the problem herself. Didn't want to make the product unusable. It 'helped' that the client wasn't accusatory or angry. She didn't harass the wonderful team at the Salon.

The company heard loyalty and a request for help. And they responded in the same way.

Case number four. Lifestyle Group Yamba

Every year, a family heads to Yamba for their annual holiday. This year, health issues meant they could not go. They contacted Lifestyle Group Yamba to see what options might be available and whether they could have a credit for their stay.

The company offered a full refund. The family received more than they had hoped for.

That generosity builds the kind of loyalty no marketing budget can buy. I know who the family will be booking with again next year. No doubt.

None of these businesses had to do what they did. In each case, company policies gave them every reason to say no, or to offer only the minimum.

Instead, someone in each business made a human decision. They looked past the transaction and saw the person. They acted from values like kindness, trust, compassion and care.

I did not discover these stories from the businesses. I heard them from the people. People remember how you treated them when life got hard, and they tell others. In uncertain times, that kind of reputation is not a cost. It is priceless.

There is a belief - no, a certainty - in business that people will ignore all the good deeds you have undertaken. And that when you make one mistake, that person will tell ten people and disparage you, your team and your organisation. That's why I have chosen to write about these acts of kindness. Businesses like these need to be supported. And we need to share more positive stories so we can better align our spending with our values.

Most organisations have a vision, a mission and a set of values. They sit on the website, in the annual report, maybe framed on the office wall. Words like integrity, customer-first, respect, and care appear again and again.

I worked on company culture with an accounting company, and when I asked about their vision, mission and values statements and said that I couldn't find them on the website, the owner started looking in the office drawers and casually said, "They are here somewhere".

On the opposite end of the spectrum, when I visited Zappos, they were all over the walls, on t-shirts and exemplified in every human that was working there.

Do you know your vision, mission, and values statements without looking in drawers to verify them? Do you hire and fire by them? Do your employees and clients know what you stand for?

And because I'm big on questions - here are a few more:

Ask yourself: When a customer's situation falls outside the policy, what do I actually do? Do our values guide that decision, or does the rulebook?
Ask your teammates: Do you feel you have permission to do the right thing for a customer, even when it is not written down? Do you know what our values are, and do you see them lived?
Ask your executive team: Are we making decisions in line with our stated values, or only quoting them when it suits us?
Ask your board: If a customer told the story of how we treated them in their hardest moment, would we be proud of it?

The businesses in these four stories decided who they want to be. Not just in the good times, but for all times.

Are your values guiding your business, or are they just words on a wall?

Celebrating Success One Failure at a Time is now available as a book, an audiobook, and an online course. You can bring this conversation to your organisation as a keynote, workshop, or leadership programme.