Like many people, I grew up going to church on Sundays. Part of the Sunday morning ritual was to pick out your nicest set of clothes to wear to worship service. This, of course, never went over real well with us kids. Putting on clothes in general was a chore, but wearing stuffy pants and a button-down shirt was nearing cruel and unusual punishment.
Our parents had their reasons though. To put on your Sunday best was said to be a sign of respect to God and those you were worshiping with. They said that when you entered God's house you should look as good as your means provided. Your presentation was important because the occasion was important. Makes sense, right?
However, being the overly logical and discussion-oriented (ok, argumentative) person I am, I thought this was a strange practice. My theory was that if God is omniscient and the creator of all things, then shouldn't we always present ourselves in the best possible way?
Why were we limiting our best physical presentations to Sunday?
We do it in business too
A few years ago I was working for a client that had several offices across the US. I was on site at one of their divisions for about six months, providing support for their implementation, when the CEO decided to visit. He was flying in from Los Angeles and would be at the office for a couple hours the following afternoon. A memo from a Senior VP went out that day announcing the CEO's trip and the arrangements that needed to be made.The transformation of the company was amazing.
The next day I walked in and thought I might have gone to the wrong building.
People were dressed to impress. Desks were clean and organized. Flowers adorned the reception area and bathrooms. The floors were cleaner than I'd ever seen them. Even the warehouse guys had clean shirts on.
Everyone had put on their Sunday best for the occasion.
It was no doubt an impressive transformation in one day, but it left me wondering why the company didn't operate on that level every day. Why go through all the trouble to put on a show for one day when you could make that your standard operating procedure?
The Pope is Coming
One of my favorite posts from Seth Godin is about what you would do if the Pope were coming to visit your business. The point of the post is to make us recognize that you can put on your Sunday best whenever you want, for whoever you want. If you choose to do that for only the most important people, then that's who you'll impress. But, how would your regular customers react if you treated them the same way? How would that affect your business? How would it change the customer experience?Today is only Tuesday, but I'm putting on my Sunday best. Won't you join me?
