Today is my birthday. It’s not a decade birthday or one of significance like I can now vote, drink legally, or qualify for Medicare. It’s just a birthday in the grand scheme of life, but every birthday is special to me.
You see, I have friends who aren’t here to celebrate and they left younger than me. I have family who aren’t here that were my mentors. I have friends facing the inevitability of a shorter life from cancer. Every birthday is special to me.
And that’s why I celebrate my birthday, but even more so, why I celebrate others’ birthdays as well. When you’re my coaching client, you get a birthday card. Some even get birthday calls with some lucky few enduring my singing “Happy Birthday.” Why?
Here are 3 Reasons to Positively Celebrate Birthdays:
Everybody wants to feel special.
Time is the most precious gift we have to give each other. Taking the time to wish someone “Happy Birthday” takes a few minutes and is a tremendous investment in a relationship.
Most of our business associates and clients expect transactional contact, e.g., “Thank you for your order” notes or “Is everything working well for you?” phone calls.
When you invest the time in a transformational contact—a “Happy Birthday” card or call—your client feels special. Like they matter to you beyond the order. You humanize the relationship with this action because everyone single one of us, at some deep, internal level, want to feel special. Like we matter beyond the business.
Everybody wants to know someone cares.
The global world of business can be overwhelming today with all of us working harder and hopefully smarter just to stay even. We drive and are driven by noses and nickels.
Yet the ones who are truly successful by all metrics are the ones who care and find ways to express that care. A computer doesn’t care when its processor was created. A human being does care when it was birthed.
One is a tool that expedites business. The other is the facilitator of business.
Keep the distinction clear as you do business.
Everybody wants to know someone cares.
Everybody wants to touch and be touched.
John Naisbitt’s “Megatrends” highlighted almost 25 years ago a true reality of today: the more technology drives our world, the more we starve for the human touch. Intimacy finds expression in keystrokes instead of hugs today.
And yet the companies and business persons who attract the best talent and retain it, who are in business relationships with loyal clients and customers are the ones who touch. Who draw close enough to hug. Who risk bridging the diverse differences to say the simple yet profound statements like “Happy Birthday.”
Work Positive in this negative and say “Happy Birthday!” to someone today.
Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), coach, and speaker who helps professionals increase sales with greater productivity and get out of the office earlier. To invite Dr. Joey to your next event contact Sue Falcone here at “Simply” Sue Speaks! or email sue@simplysuespeaks.com