If you’re a business owner, most of your focus is likely on building your company and taking excellent care of your customers and employees. That’s important but have you considered giving back to the community that supports your business? Giving back can help you and your organization in more ways than you may realize.
Follow Other’s Examples
While you don’t necessarily have to become the next Ehsan Bayat, his example is inspiring and a tremendous representation of how much good you can do. Mr. Bayat owns numerous successful business including the largest communication business in Afghanistan. He also founded the Bayat Foundation in 2006 to bring food, clothing, care for orphan children, educational and athletic programs, and more to the people his business serves.
You and Your Employees Can Feel Good About Your Efforts
Just as you feel good knowing that your products and services are helping to improve your customers’ lives, the same can be said about the feeling that comes with helping others in your local community. Giving back and helping others results in a special feeling that you don’t often come by in the business world, a feeling of knowing that you’re making a positive difference in someone’s life. As you and your employees work together for the greater good, it can foster a sense of loyalty, which can help ensure that your best employees stay right where they are for as long as possible.
You Feel More Connected to Your Community
When you give back to your community, your community gives back to you. Something else to think about is the fact that your efforts provide you with a unique opportunity to meet different people in your geographic area that you may have never met otherwise, and there’s no telling where those relationships and connections may lead to. And finally, giving back helps to establish and build your business reputation in your community, a feat that no amount of marketing or advertising may be able to achieve.
You Learn To Be More Thankful
Business leaders can sometimes become so consumed in their work that they forget to look up and out at the world around them. When you make an effort to give back, you give yourself the chance to see just what you have in your life to be thankful for that you may normally take for granted. These reminders can have an indelible impact on not just your professional life, but your personal life as well, helping you steer your company and your life in a new, more satisfying direction.
Your Customers Prefer Supporting a Company That Supports a Cause
Not only do today’s consumers want to support companies that offer quality products and services, but they also want to give their time and money to businesses that support a good cause. As you’re thinking about your next marketing and advertising strategy, don’t forget, or underestimate, just how effective giving back can be when it comes to attracting and keeping customers. Even if you don’t offer the absolute best services or products in your industry, you may win customers over simply because of your giving spirit. That being said, you should still focus on doing the best job possible to offer the best service or product that you can.
You Have Plenty of Ways That You Can Give Back
Thankfully, it’s never been easier to show your charitable spirit. You can talk with your employees to see if there are any organizations that they support, and there are likely community events that you can sponsor. Finally, you can offer to set up a community outreach program.
Giving to others has a way of making you feel as if you’re giving to yourself. How can your business serve your local community? Start a list, do some digging and see if there are any local causes that are a good match for your organization.