There are a few really good business people out there in today’s world who have had good, solid business development training. They are hard to come by, but last week I had 2 back-to-back experiences with 2 great businessmen. I want to share these experiences with you today because I believe we can learn a lot from them.

The lights in our kitchen were not working last week for some reason. We tried to fix them, but the breaker kept tripping. So I called John, the electrician who did some work for us back when we first moved into this house. I wasn’t home when he came, but my youngest son, Micah, was there.

When I got home, I said, "Micah, did the electrician leave a bill?" He told me, "No, he said he just fixed it for us." I just assumed they would be sending a bill through the mail. I picked up the phone to call John to make sure he had the right mailing address.

John told me, "Ma’am, all I did was change out your breaker. There’s no charge." I literally had tears in my eyes. I said, "John, you need to be paid for your time. You came out to my house, assessed the situation, and worked on the breaker. Please send me a bill." He responded with this: "It was really simple to fix and didn’t take long. I’m not sending you a bill for that."

I frequently do small business training, and I was blown away! I told him, "This just doesn’t happen in today’s world. You are most certainly going to get referrals out of me. I will let everyone I know that if they need an electrician, you’re the guy to go to."

Look at the response John’s generosity provoked in me. I obviously didn’t need this for free. Somebody else could have used that, but even so, he didn’t charge us for the work he did. It really blessed me and made me want to get on Facebook and tell all my friends and family that he’s the one they should do business with.

The same exact thing happened to me just a few minutes later at my dentist’s office. The day before, I had a crown break. I called my dentist right away, and he got me in first thing the next morning.

This dentist could have taken advantage of this situation like a lot of other dentists would do. But instead, he looked inside my mouth, and he said, "You know what, Dani? I’m just going to buff it out. It’s bothering you because the sharp edge is cutting your tongue. We don’t need to do anything major. We’ll just see how this works out for now."

He could have made a lot of money from this. I don’t know how much it costs to get a new crown – to take it out, remold it, and do a brand new one – but it ain’t cheap, I know that. I figured he would have to do a lot of work to fix it, but he didn’t take advantage of my lack of knowledge. He looked for the cheapest and quickest way to deal with the problem. He buffed the edges and sent me on my way. I was in and out of his chair in 5 minutes.

I want you to think about this. It’s easy, as business people, to look for any opportunity to make more money. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. But it’s also good to look for an opportunity to give more.

Both of these business people I ran into last week were givers of their time, and they were looking to save their customer money. How awesome is that?!

And look! I’m talking about my electrician and dentist right now. Why? Because they blessed me. And because of that, I am telling everyone about them and sending them referrals left and right.

So I want you to look at who you can bless today. Who can you give of your service today? Whether you take a portion of your talent and gifting and donate that, or you just look for someone to randomly bless just because, it will get you referrals.

I’m not saying do that for everyone, all the time – you’ll go out of business if you do that! I am saying it is appropriate to set a goal for giving in your business. Maybe it’s for every 10 customers you serve, you do something extra special for one.

Or if you are someone who struggles with taking advantage of people, I promise that if you switch gears and become a giver and start looking out for your customers, you are going to get so many referrals! You will have so many people who trust you and believe in you and rally around you.

Do you understand what I’m saying? You see what’s in it for you? I’m going to make sure everyone in my office and my community is going to my dentist and my electrician. And if you do what these two businessmen did, you will have people who are sending everyone they know to you.

I’d love to know your thoughts about today’s letter. What makes you want to work with someone? What makes you want to send referrals to someone? Have you ever had an experience similar to the two I told you about today? Tell me below!

Please also go ahead and share this with your family, friends, and co-workers. Part of being a giver is sharing information that can help people in their business, career, and relationships. You can also share this link on your social media sites. So as you have freely received this information today, please freely give it away!

In great faith,

P.S. Like what you read here? Just hit the "like" button at the top of the page! That will help your Facebook friends find this conent!