Do you remember when Odysseus returned home, looking like a wretched beggar, unrecognizable from the king he really is, and everybody treated him badly except the pigs’ keeper? Well, if there’s anything you should learn from this, it’s the importance of being kind to all, not just to those you think will bring you money. Because you never know who will turn out to be the person to bring your business to the next level.
In this blog, I will tell you why being KIND is not a waste of time, but the key to better business. Further still: it should be an essential component of your brand.
But first, what is kindness?
Kindness is all the different ways, big or small, that you use your gestures, your words, your time, your talent, or your resources to express care and better the lives of others, without expecting anything in return. Kindness can be as simple as a smile to a stranger in the streets, helping out a person carrying their stroller down the stairs to the subway station, or listening to a friend’s concerns.
But what does that have anything to do with my business, you ask? If kindness is about altruistic acts, actions that are free of charge, how does that relate to the business world, which, after all, revolves around money-making and profit maximization?
Kindness has everything to do with business.
Your brand is not just about your logo, your colors, your products or services; it is about how you appear to the world, how you show up to the world. Before our founder, Eseosa Eke, created IconiQ Creative Group, she worked in corporate America. She often tells us about how cut-throat and un-inclusive this environment was. There was no time to talk to people, everybody was always in attack-mode, competing against each other, adding enormous amounts of stress and frustration on employees.
Research by the Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada (APEX) found that teams in a respectful, kind environment “express 36% more satisfaction with their jobs and are 44% more committed to their organizations.”
In addition, when you cultivate a culture of kindness in your business, you not only boost productivity on the part of your employees, but you are also more likely to attract customers. Showing genuine kindness and empathy in your interactions drives customer engagement and creates brand loyalty, whether your customers are the direct recipient of a kind act or simply witness kindness in your interactions with your employees or with your colleagues. If your customers feel like they are heard by your business, and see that your team is happy and flourishing, they are more likely to feel inspired to interact with your brand and to want to take part in the experiences you offer them.
According to Capgemini, 70% of emotionally engaged consumers spend up to two times or more on brands they are loyal to, compared to less than half (49%) of consumers with low emotional engagement.
The more you strive to foster an emotional connection with your customers via kind and empathetic actions and attitudes, the more likely they will be to choose YOU for your services or products.
Now here are three tips to add more kindness to your business:
Listen to your staff, make space for them to speak in meetings and express how they feel by:
- Allowing them to speak before you in meetings
- Being willing to listen to others
- Asking how are you? and showing genuine interest in their answer
Celebrate small wins with your staff and customers by:
- Being a cheerleader to other people's ideas
- Expressing excitement and spreading happiness
- Celebrating birthdays and other important events
- Staying in touch with past customers and celebrating their achievements
Revisit the language you use in emails, social platforms and websites.
- Be friendly in your emails
- Make sure your emails don’t sound robotic like automatic responses
- Personalize your replies to customers by including their names, their brand’s name, and mentioning something specific about their business. Make your customers feel heard and understood.
To conclude, business growth is not incompatible with kindness. In fact, the two go hand in hand. The more kindness you show in your business, the more the latter will grow. But to show real empathy in your engagement requires work: you need to put yourself in the other’s shoes and imagine, “how would I like to be treated in their situation?” You will need to pay attention to details, to the specific needs of the others, and deliver the most personalized experience to them. At last, don’t forget how big of an impact the little things, the seemingly small acts of kindness can have. They can go a long way.
At IconiQ Creative Group, we specialize in bringing out the human in your design. Do you need help with making your website look more like you? Get in touch here.