…but first you have to overcome your own self-interest.
Self-interest is a strong motivator and, like it or not, it is often behind many of the decisions we make… don’t feel too bad its human nature. It’s our default setting. Ancient Greek poet and philosopher Pindar said, “Even wisdom has to yield to self-interest.”
As owners and managers we often let our own self-interest interfere with the interests of our members and prospective members. It’s the reason why some businesses will make it difficult for members to cancel their membership, will keep withdrawing dues after they have cancelled their membership, will “hard sell” prospective members, will sign up more members than they can handle, will let their clubs and equipment fall into disrepair, will take money from beginners/new members and not provide them with the support they need to be successful in the club…
Of course, these are all myopic strategies because customers, quite understandably, don’t like it when businesses put their own interests in front of their customer’s. Remember that customers don’t care about you as much as they care about what you can do for them.
The challenge then is for owners and managers to set aside their own (often short term) self-interest long enough to find a way to align their business interests with their customer’s self-interest… Pindar doesn’t think you are smart enough to do it… I hope he’s wrong.
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