Give People What They Need, Not What You Want to Give

Almost every service failure I've seen in 15 years fits in one sentence: we gave the customer what we wanted to give.

Not out of malice. Out of convenience, habit, or because the process was designed that way eight years ago.

The gift nobody asked for

Think of the typical corporate holiday gift. It's chosen by budget, by logistics, and by what the decision-maker likes. Rarely by what's useful to the person receiving it.

Services get designed the same way: from the inside out. What's easy to operate, what fits the system, what doesn't change the process. Then the frontline team is asked to make up the difference with attitude.

Applied empathy starts where protocols end: with the question "does this actually help this person?"

Hearing the request isn't understanding the need

A customer asking for a corrected invoice isn't asking for a PDF. They're trying to close their month without trouble with their accountant.

A customer asking for a price isn't asking for a number. They're trying to decide without looking bad.

When you serve the literal request, you comply. When you serve the need, you solve. The difference is what people recommend.

What this looks like on Monday

• Before answering, ask what it's for. "What do you need it for?" changes 80% of service conversations.
• Offer what solves the problem, not what's in your inventory of arguments.
• When what the customer asks for isn't what's good for them, say so. Clearly, without a lecture.
• Review one process your company defends with "that's how we do it." Ask who it serves.

The uncomfortable part

This idea forces you to accept that your proposal often wasn't the right one. That stings the ego, and the ego is one of the worst enemies of growth: it would rather be right than serve well.

Serving well is largely the discipline of dropping your own recipe to adapt to what the other person needs.

Where this comes from

This piece comes from the chapter "Give the other person what they need, not what I want to give them," in my book *Estoy para servirte*.