"Going the extra mile". We've all heard this phrase many times probably without understanding where it originally came from. So, without further delay, allow me to provide a small history lesson gathered from the cobwebs of my brain (and Google).
During the times of the Roman Empire, there was a law that allowed Roman soldiers the right to force Jews to carry their heavy packs for a mile. The law was very specific though, it was only for one mile. The soldier would actually get into trouble for making a Jew carry their pack for a greater distance than was permitted. So Jesus, in his infinite wisdom, told his followers that if they were made to carry a Roman soldiers' pack for one mile, that they should not drop the load at the mile marker- but keep going. This accomplished two things. It first made the soldier uncomfortable because someone was doing more than was expected from them. It was truly an expression of freedom. And secondly, it was a clever way of potentially getting that soldier in hot water with his superiors for seemingly breaking the law. Pretty interesting hunh?
Fast forward a couple thousand years and now we have this saying, "Go the extra mile." We may not know the meaning but the addition of the word "extra" seems to imply that it's not compulsory. No one is going to make you do it. And going one step further, no one is going to expect you to do it and they certainly won't hold you accountable for NOT doing it.
And that, my friends, is the key to it all.
I recently talked about a guy named Jay Abraham, a marketing genius. Jay talks about the difference between a client and a customer. A customer is someone who purchases a product or service from you. A client is someone under your protection.
Read that again.
What this means is that when you have customers your responsibility is pretty much complete at the point of transaction. "You have a product, I have your money - hope your happy." In other words, I walked the one mile that I was compelled to walk.
But when you have clients, your responsibility for their well-being is never over. Not even after the transaction is completed. Hmm, this sounds a lot like an extra mile. Or two extra miles. Perhaps three.
The point is, when you have clients you have the responsibility to protect them; to care for them; to watch over them. And maybe even when doing so is outside the normal scope of your normal products or services.
No one is going to make you walk the extra mile, that's the point. But if you decide to walk it, you'll have a client for life.
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