Showing passion — the supreme discipline for making a competent impression on new customers

Competence consists of a combination of expertise, process knowledge, experience, passion, and capacity. Successful companies are often so good, especially over longer periods of time, because they do what they do with great passion. It’s important to show that, too.

I well remember the plant tour at a new customer of ours that manufactures equipment to check laser-controlled production machines. This is enormously important for printing presses, for example. Even the slightest imbalance would cause the results to be impure and, in extreme cases, the entire machine would break. For this reason, inspections must always be carried out to ensure that the individual machine components are positioned exactly as they should be. Our customer has developed the appropriate inspection equipment for this purpose. We were hired to redesign the website. Before we get started, we always do a kickoff workshop at the customer’s site. In the case of manufacturing companies, an important part of getting to know the company properly is a tour of the plant.

So we walked through all the halls and had the individual production steps explained to us. At the very end, and only because there was still some time left, we were told: “There is another room in the basement that we should perhaps take a look at. In this cellar room, an 11-meter-long and 11-ton granite measuring table had been set up. We were told that it was necessary to tear open the ceiling of the room to get the granite block in there. The table was supported on electric coil springs, which cushioned the smallest vibrations when the subway was running 3 kilometers away. The entire room was soundproofed and set to an always constant temperature of 21 degrees. The table was not allowed to be touched because the temperature of the finger would affect the precise arrangement on the table. Two testing devices were installed on the table, with a laser beam shining between them. When I asked what customer projects things were being tested for here, the surprising answer was, none. The whole huge effort was made just to make the measurement as perfect as possible. We are talking about many places past 99.99% perfection. The whole setup and huge effort were just to get the most accurate measurement result possible. That is passion.

We then decided to place photos from this room with a short explanation right at the top of the company’s homepage. Anyone who sees this as a customer and understands the passion with which the employees work here will automatically transfer this to the products. This creates an enormous leap of faith that works into the future because such passion can be stopped by almost nothing.

I have had similar experiences with numerous projects, especially with owner-managed companies. The example described earlier can also be applied to many self-employed people who work alone or in small teams. Whether it’s the baker who still gets up at 3 a.m. every morning and tinkers with the perfect recipe for the perfect loaf of bread. Or the doctor who does everything he can in his specialty to keep up with the latest findings worldwide and use them for his patients. Or the painter who uses unusual materials to create exciting effects on walls. The pursuit of improvement is a consequence of passionate work.

But it’s not just about innovations and further developments. Even in ordinary business, passion can mean the difference between being successful and not. If my passion is to advise my clients that they have optimal organizational processes in HR management, I will constantly be on the ball to see what new tools come onto the market. I will read with great interest new methods for the handling of applications, the process of job interviews, the internal coordination to applicants, and the training of new employees and consider whether it makes sense to include them in my repertoire. For each individual project, I will analyze the customer and his specific organization very carefully in order to offer the best possible solution for him. And isn’t it wonderful to experience passionate good service for once? (unfortunately still completely underestimated here in Germany). When I walk into my little cheese store in Nymphenburg, am greeted by the two owners with “Hello Martin” and the first thing I do is try the latest cheese discovery. This is then followed by stories about each cheese, origin, taste, matching wine combinations and and and. In short, passion is needed everywhere to be successful in the long term.

And passion must also be communicated so that potential new customers find out about it. After a new customer finds out that I offer the right thing for them, have the necessary expertise and experience, passion is one area I can use to convince them to get in touch. This can be a key point that differentiates my communication from the competition. I also don’t have to communicate quite as quickly at this point. Since I have already arrived at the shortlist of my potential customer via the other necessary content, I can now also reach out further. At this stage, the potential new customers are ready to learn more about the provider and delve deeper into it.

In my experience, this is best done with stories. Stories are articles on the website (can also be wonderfully processed in printed form), in which you and your employees tell how you work on your products and services. What everyday life is like and where you are passionate about your work.

Questions like:

• Where do we have attention to detail?
• What details do we look at that customers may never suspect?
• How do we educate ourselves to incorporate new developments?
• Where do we like to go the extra mile, putting in a night shift to get even better?
• In what area do we strive for perfection?
• Where are we interested in the origin of the things we buy in?
• Who in the company is an absolute specialist in their field?

All of the answers to these questions can be reflected in communications to new customers. Each of these points can be wrapped up in a story. This is where you can draw from the full. Of course, a good copy is needed. Quotes are a very good fit. Good photos are almost always an important building block.

Videos are even much better. Especially engineers or other product developers, who are not naturally inclined to be communicative, blossom when you let them talk about their products. Of course, you have to be careful to keep it understandable for the customer.

The beauty of these stories is that they rarely become outdated and have little pressure to update. Unlike a blog, for example, which promises new content every week, a story section with 6–10 stories from the company can stay up for a long time. Then, if you add a new post once or twice a year or refresh an old one with new content, that’s enough.

This is the best way to communicate your passion for your product or service and convince new customers that you are the right long-term partner for them.

Photo by Kashawn Hernandez on Unsplash