An article for business professionals - February 12, 2007
Doing Business with Heart
By Jan Bolick
If you read Angels Everywhere, you know about Antwon and Mr. Parsons. They do business with heart.
Here are a few more examples.
***
Meghan’s two year old daughter decided to color on Sunday afternoon. She colored one cushion of the new sofa with pink marker; the other with black.
Thank goodness, Meghan had purchased the option for stain resistant treatment with a lifetime guarantee. The deal went like this. The company gave stain removal tips and a promise that if the tips didn’t work, they would send out a cleaner and if the cleaner couldn’t get the material clean, the company would replace the sofa for FREE.
The tips didn’t work so Meghan called the toll free number for help.
"Oh, I am sorry, the warranty doesn't cover ink," the voice at the other end replied. "It only covers food, beverage, human/pet stains, tears, rips and burns."
Hoping for a different verdict, Meghan called the furniture store that sold her the sofa and the guarantee. She explained the situation to Frances, adding in "we haven’t even finished paying for it!"
Frances replied, "Okay - but marker isn't ink."
Tears welled up in Meghan’s eyes as she sat on the other end of the phone in silence.
And then Frances said, "Don’t worry about it, Meghan. We'll just order new covers for your cushions. Your sofa will look as good as new very soon."
Frances does business with heart.
***
A customer drove up to the service window at Sun Trust Bank and wanted to withdraw cash, an amount over the limit allowed at the window.
Following procedures, the bank’s service associate asked the customer to come inside for the transaction – but felt bad asking this because there was a child sleeping in the back seat.
As the customer pulled into a parking space, another service associate went outside and offered to tend to the child while the mom went inside to complete her business.
Another example of doing business with heart.
***
Glenda loved the garden tools on display at Harris Teeter.
They could be hers if she just spent $40 per week for 12 weeks. She spent at least that much any way but would just have to pay attention to the timing of her purchases.
She was thrilled the day her receipt included a note at the bottom saying she had earned enough credits. She went straight to the customer service desk to claim her prize - but they were out.
Seeing the disappointed look on Glenda's face, the manager called a nearby store. They were out too. Another store. Also out. Finally - a store about 30 minutes away still had some left. He asked the store manager to hold a set for Glenda.
As Glenda left the store, she was approached by Michelle, a store employee who overheard conversations with the manager. "You know what? I have a set of garden tools in my car that I was going to take to my mother this weekend. Why don’t you take my set and later this week, I’ll stop by and pick up the set on reserve for you."
Michelle does business with heart.
***
This story was told at a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning disabled children. It was told by the father of one of the students, named Sam.
Sam and I walked past a park where some boys were playing baseball.
Sam asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?"
I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Sam on their team, but it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging, so I asked one of the boys if Sam could play.
The boy looked around for guidance. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, "We're in the eighth inning and losing by six runs. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him at bat in the ninth inning."
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Sam's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.
In the top of the ninth, Sam put on a glove and played in the outfield. Even though no hits came his way, he was ecstatic just to be on the field, grinning from ear to ear as he waved to me from the stands.
In the bottom of the ninth, Sam's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Sam was scheduled to be next at bat.
Let Sam bat and give away their chance to win the game?
Sam was given the bat. He didn't know how to hold it, much less connect with the ball.
However, as Sam stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Sam could hopefully make contact.
The first pitch came. Sam swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher took a few more steps forward and tossed the ball softly towards Sam.
He swung and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.
Instead of making the throw to first for an easy out and an end to the game, the pitcher threw the ball high in the air, far beyond the reach of the first baseman.
"Sam, run to first! Run to first!"
Never in his life had Sam ever made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.
Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"
By the time Sam rounded first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown it to the second baseman for the tag, but instead he threw it high and far over the third baseman's head.
Sam ran toward second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases toward home.
When Sam reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third!"
As he rounded third, the boys from both teams were screaming, "Sam, run home!"
He did. He ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the "grand slam" and won the game for his team.
"That day," Sam’s father said softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world."
The person who sent me this story, sent an accompanying note that read:
"We all have thousands of opportunities every single day - so many seemingly trivial interactions between two people that present us with a choice. Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up that opportunity, and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?"
***
Aren’t we lucky that the people in these stories made the choices they did?
Whether in the business of selling furniture or banking services or groceries - or in the business of being kids playing baseball --- they do their business well. They really care.
One heart at a time - they warm the world - doing business with heart.
Not just on Valentine’s Day - but throughout the year.
copyright 2007 by Business Class Inc.
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