Kill em with kindness. At least you get to kill em

This title is in quotes because I took it from someone else. But it stuck in my head ever since I read it. I discovered I was recently unfriended by a business owner who was apparently upset I left and went to the so-called competition. I joined this neighborhood gym about 8 years ago. I was treated with a warm welcome and throughout my entire membership felt like this place was family. Over the course of all those years I not only paid a lot of money but also referred about 10 people who also paid a lot of money. I love this place. It changed my life. I spent an average of 2 hours a day there. It made working out something to look forward to. This doesn’t change the fact that I still like doing other things. Variety is the spice of life as they say. So another gym opened up one block away that I can walk to vs. the extra half our round trip I was used to. Hey, that can make a huge difference. This place has all the variety you can imagine. My body needed a change and so did I. Not to say I wouldn’t still go back to my favorite. As I mentioned, I like variety. But was I only a friend when I was paying my dues? Was this a personal thing? Which brings me to my actual point. Not only am I a comedian but I spent my whole career in sales. My life has been about making contacts and building relationships. And as another saying goes, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Having owned my own business and selling advertising, my biggest concern was the the success of my customers. My service or solution was not their only answer. I wanted their business but ultimately knew that their total success might mean doing business with some of my competitors. Which is OK. I still won. Just because they advertised with me doesn’t mean there aren’t other avenues to their success. I encouraged them to do whatever worked. The better they did the better I did. I still sell advertising. And I refer my current clients to my so-called competition because they can offer different solutions to add to their success. Just like comedy. Other comedians are not competition. Funny is funny. I don’t get mad or unfriend people if they like other comedians. And I dont get mad if my customers advertise with other companies. There is always competition. You can embrace it or get mad about it. I am in the business of being successful in spite of it. Thats the basis of my job. As a business, what can you do to keep a customer when competition lurks all around you? You can offer them honey or you can offer them vinegar. For everyone you offer honey to you may get 10 more customers. For everyone you offer vinegar to you may lose not only those 10 but the word of mouth as well.