You may have heard of Peter Cheales, the man behind Hellopeter. He’s a genius. But he’s also a nice guy. And when I read this message from him, I realised that we like to deal not only with smart people, but also with nice people.
This, and what it means for business, is a good lesson. Here’s Peter’s story:
I asked if any of you knew of a web development company that could assist me in taking Hellopeter.com into the future. Your response was overwhelming. I received responses from Vereeniging to Viet Nam (really)…My request was quite specific, so I didn’t look at all the CVs submitted, and I eliminated applications where links didn’t work… I also rejected emails where Hellopeter was spelt hUllo, hAllo, etc…This sifting process still left me with too many applications to process properly, so… and here’s a tip for anyone looking for new business… I filtered out the companies telling me only how wonderful they were. I focused on companies who told me what they could do for Hellopeter.com.It’s simple. We’re not really interested in what our suppliers can do: we’re only interested in what they can do for us.Surround yourself with brilliance, expertise and experience, but if you don’t like the people, keep away. It’s critical to surround yourself with nice people.… I’m in the final stages of sifting through the development companies that responded to my email, but I can assure you that – in addition to the company being brilliant – it’ll also be full of helluva nice people, from the top down.People like YOU… Thank you for being just so…nice.
I second Peter’s take on things. If you’re on my mailing list, you‘re someone I like (and have met, worked with, taught, or would like to meet, work with, teach). But beyond that, the business lesson we can learn from Peter Cheales is two-fold:
1. Tell your target audience what you can do for them. Answer the un-asked question, ‘What’s in it for me?’
2. Work with and for people you like, respect and appreciate. It’s easier.
