WIIFM?

You ever listen to WIIFM?  No, it is not a radio station dedicated to video gaming, though it appears that it probably should be!  It is actually a complaint.  What’s In It For Me?  Even I’ve been guilty of asking this. 

It is so easy to fall into the WIIFM trap.  Some of you are probably surrounded by people who always have that question foremost in their mind.  Some people think that if they don’t have at least a little of this attitude in them, that people will just walk all over them.  I think it really depends on your approach.

This starts pretty early.  On elementary playgrounds you have students walking up to other students asking, “Will you be my friend.”  Really, it does happen – remember, I am an elementary school teacher!  A more likely scenario is, “Can I play with you?”  Often the implied answer is, “Why should I play with you?”  A student came up to me today and said another student said he could only play with them if he gave him five dollars.  I had to laugh at this one, because I knew the kid who was asking was actually just kidding.  All kidding aside, too many people grow up meaning that.  If I am going to make a commitment and offer my time to this endeavor, WIIFM?

To me, that is kind of like giving the waitstaff a tip before being served.  I used to be in the pizza delivery business.  I didn’t sit in my car and wonder what was going to be in it for me to deliver this pizza.  I walked up to that door with the best possible disposition, and cheerfully assisted each and every one of my customers.  Many times, those customers knew what they were going to tip me before they even saw my car.  But every once it a while, I clearly got a better tip because they found me “friendly.”  I always made sure I had napkins, crushed red peppers, and parmesan cheese.  You laugh, I know!  But pizza connoisseurs really care about this kind of stuff! 

The real problem is when the question WIIFM is asked, not how.  This is not a question that should be asked after you have been asked to “put out,” rather it should be asked before.  When I walked up to that door without crushed red peppers and they asked me if I had any, I didn’t think, WIIFM?  Let’s stick with the pizza delivery analogy for a moment.  Let’s say I brought the napkins, crushed red peppers, and parmesan cheese with me on the delivery, but I decided to leave it in the car and wait until I am asked for it.  So here is what it looks like.  I amble up to the door with the pizzas in hand, and when the door is answered, I tell them the total.  Then they give me money and say, “Keep the change.”  That leaves me with a 97 cent tip.  Then they say, “Hey, do you have any crushed red peppers?”  As a pizza delivery person, I can now make all kinds of judgments about the people to whom I have just handed the pizza.  If I thought the tip was cheap, and I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to get anything else, I might think, It’s not worth my time and effort.  If they are nice and maybe they gave me a better tip, then I might only see this as an opportunity to ensure a good tip the next time around.  This is what we call “stinkin’ thinkin’.”  And this is the way too many people think. 

My philosophy is the Golden Rule – Do unot others as you would have them do unto you.  Now, I am not perfect at this rule, and I probably never will be.  For example, I like it when other people remember my birthday, but dang, I am notoriously bad at making sure I recognize other people’s birthdays!  This is a perfect example of why I should remember birthdays.  My birthday is more likely to be remembered if I do something nice for other people’s birthdays.  Here is the catch, though -just because you remember to do something nice for everyone else’s birthday, doesn’t mean that they will automatically do something nice for yours.  However, the odds of you having more people do nice things for you on your birthday do dramatically increase.  It may not happen instantaneously, but it will definitely happen gradually over time.

Maybe my examples here seem a bit puny, but I regularly out-tipped the other drivers with whom I worked.  I have to believe it is because I asked WIIFM before I made my deliveries.  I’d made a decision about my approach before I ever saw those to whom I was going to be making the deliveries.  It didn’t make sense to me to do it any other way.  The customer had already done the business I worked for a big favor by buying pizza from them.  In my mind, they deserved the best possible service regardless of what they decided they would give me for a tip. 

It seems good service is a lost art.  Extra service now means extra charges.  You want to check baggage for your two week vacation?  Expect to pay an extra fee for storing your bag in the luggage compartment!  The insanity of it!  They make it seem as though it is an inconvenience for them when you take clothes with you on your vacation!   I honestly don’t know how they get away with it.  Oh, that’s right, I don’t let them.  I am driving my son to L.A. this Thanksgiving because I refuse to deal with airports and the people who work in them.  Some of them are very nice, I am sure, but I would rather drive for 6 1/2 hours than go through the airport circus for three.

If you really want to see positive results, try doing things because it is the right thing to do.  It might take a while to see results, but if that is your approach, you will not only see a change in your customers.  You will see a change in your own attitude. 

Before I started writing this blog, I knew that it would be a long shot that I would receive many readers.  But that didn’t matter to me.  I am writing this blog for several reasons.  First, I love writing; second, I like helping people; third, it helps me become a better writer.  I have also discovered another reason why I like it.  It helps me know what my readers like to read.  Each blog entry has its own tally.  I can tell which titles have captured my readers attention.  I can also see what people are Googling for as they are linked to my site.  This also helps me to know what people are looking for.  I really want to be the best writer I can possibly be, blogging affords me the opportunity to write my heart out and, at the same time, find out what my readers are most interested in.  Isn’t it important to know this?  Now I can really taylor my message to what my readers want, while at the same time, still being able to write about what interests me. 

Okay folks!  Late night here – that’s a wrap!

Namaste