Dave volunteered to fill in for another gym instructor at the last minute. He arrived late for class and was greeted by a full house of enthusiastic morning gym goers, weights at their feet, water bottles at the ready. He hit his first obstacle within minutes. The gym didn’t supply the workout music and there was no CD player. Dave only ever used CDs and had no backup music.

He chased around the gym for ten minutes looking for alternative options, until one of the attendees handed him her iPhone loaded with a variation of the workout music on Spotify. Fifteen minutes in, his confidence shattered and rhythm broken Dave was undone. The unfamiliar variations of the tracks threw him. Everything began to unravel. In his attempt not to look stupid Dave had stopped thinking about the audience long ago and was now focused entirely on himself. He’d not only lost it, he’d lost them. It was the worst class he’d ever taught. The complaints from the attendees to the management flooded in.

You can probably empathise with Dave. When we are preoccupied with our emergencies, expenses, staffing issues, delivery delays and on and on, we can lose sight of the end goal. There is no bigger emergency than having no customers. Without customers there is no story to tell. Above all else we need to keep the customer top of mind. Just showing up isn’t enough. You need to tell your story like it’s your one and only shot to do it, each and every time. Act as if you won’t get a chance to tell it tomorrow.

Image by Daniel Diaz Vera.