One Generation, or Two?
Who do you serve?
Seems like an obvious enough question: “my clients.” But, should that be where your focus is?
Many businesses focus on what I’d call “one generation” of service: they are explicitly focused on serving a particular audience directly.
For example, a coach, a marketer, or even a mechanic, who says, “I provide x service to better your experience of y.” Their focus is on that particular client, meeting their needs and making their lives better.
And hey, that’s great. If this sounds like you, then you’re being of service to the people you see. And you’ll successful to whatever degree you’ll be successful.
But, could you go further?
What if you embraced a “two generation” model: focused not on bettering the lives of your clients alone, but on bettering the lives of your clients’ clients?
For example:
- help the coach help their clients,
- help the marketer serve their audience, and
- help the mechanic do even better for their customers.
Small difference? I think not.
If you help a coach with their problems, that’s great. And the coach will listen to you as long as that problem exists.
But if you help the coach serve their clients better, then that coach will listen to you as long as they have clients to serve. Through helping the coach be a better coach, you’re gaining a client for life, not just to get over the next hurdle.
Helping a mechanic to get a handle on their accounting systems is great. But, help them do that so they can serve their clients better, and you’ve just gone from being a “temporary help” to an “indispensable service.”
Think of people like Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki; their work isn’t just about you having success at work, their work is focused on helping you help your people have better experiences, which, in turn, results in greater success for you.
Can you take it a step further?
- How could your business benefit from adopting a “two generation” focus?
- What would a “three generation” model look like? Can you think of an example of one?
(oh, one more thing: I’m sure I’m not the first person (or even the 237th) to think of this, and yet my Googles are coming up empty when I try finding other references to this idea… know of anything? I’d love to hear.)
Get my Silencing Overwhelm e-book when you subscribe
Intuitive purpose finder and meaning maker.
Just wanted to give credit to the photographer of this one, Ninaide.
Hi Adam,
Two quickies.
One: See if Dawud can set you up so the comment box is already there. I’ve learned from my own community that many people don’t know how to leave a message.
Two. What would a “three generation” model look like? Can you think of an example of one?
Giving a training at an association is a great way to do “three generation” For you personally small business owner is “one,” Coaches that help small business owners is “two,” and Association of Coaches is “three.”
Your idea reminded me a little of the one -
give a man a fish, you feed him once, but
teach a man to fish, you feed him forever. . .
Third generation might be -
teach a man to protect the environment and his descendants will be able to eat forever.
@Jason: Dawud and I have yet to style out the comments; we wanted to get it up asap. Comments are coming this week.
@Jason and Celeste: Interesting ideas about the three generations… I like ‘em.
My thought was:
- one generation: help people.
- two generations: help people to help people.
- three generations: help people to help their people help some people.
I can think of a few hypothetical situations; does anyone know any concrete examples?
Hi Adam,
Well, I was all set to say what Celeste said, and then read that she said it. Hi Celeste. Nice to see you here.
This also makes me think of our deeper intentions that we might not state too often in our work situations; such as, the intention to spread whatever light we can in the world, the intention to serve in whatever ways the Divine would have us do, and so on.
These intentions can carry a power beyond the visible situation.
Stuart Baker
http://www.consciouscooperation.com
Very true, Stuart. I think a huge amount of our effectiveness starts with our intentions (hence, the post).
I know you’re up on it, but for those who haven’t seen it, there is a great post about stating those intentions and working from them at my friend Dawud’s blog. Well worth a read — it spurred me on to many good lines of thought, and continues to.
How about second-generation testimonials as well? One of my website design clients emailed me a testimonial from one of her clients about how much that client likes navigating around the new website and using it.
I think that can really help to show the two-generation approach. I’m thinking of going back to some of my other clients and getting 2-generation testimonials from them as well.
Ding-ding-ding! Ooh, I like it!
That’s a great point, Erin.