Ohhh, now you are going to be nice to me?!

It turns out that being a good doorman and building a great business aren’t so different after all.

A doorman knows everything about our lives. In fact, probably a little too much.

A good doorman actually takes an interest in his customers. He cares about you (his customer). And it’s so easy for him to care because he can see what’s going on in your life.

Think about it. He knows:

What you are doing and where you are going.
Your work hours better than anyone.

Your favorite food and how often you eat it.
If you exercise.

When you go shopping and what you are ordering via mail.
Your friends and family and how often you hang out with them.

Who you are seeing and who you shouldn’t be seeing.

His job is to make your life as easy as possible by helping you solve little problems. Whether it’s holding packages, letting workers up to your apartment, holding doors open for you or whatever the case may be.

If he’s a superstar, he’ll take the time to learn about you, making sure to establish that emotional connection. He’ll go out of his way to greet you in the morning. He’ll run to open the door for you.

He’ll go that extra mile.

He acknowledges you and shows his appreciation and leaves you with a lasting impression as you take on the day.

My doormen have it all wrong. They think the world is owed to them. They are extremely unfriendly and don’t even open the doors. They think tips are just coming to them.

And what does one unhappy tenant do. They go and tell 10 other people. And they also find out if people are having the same issue. (In my case, yes.)

In fact, a good doorman is sincere 365 days a year 24/7 since the day you chose to move in. Sure, we all have our bad moments. You make it up next time, though. You might even apologize. We are all forgiving.

But, all of the sudden my doormen are being extra nice.

When a doorman just expects tips just because he’s a doorman and is being extra nice and it’s holiday time people sense that in .1 seconds. If he really cared about serving people and wanted to make a difference, people would sense that too.

They really would. And they’d appreciate it. And guess what? They’d tell 10 other people how much they love the doorman.

One of my doormen is nice and the rest, usually, seem to almost go out of there way to not acknowledge anyone.

Their job is simple: Open the door for people.

Anyone could be a doorman. What you do after that is what separates you from 99% of the other doormen.

So what am I going to do?

Well, last year I gave all of my doormen very generous tips. I was told that doormen can make your life a lot easier or harder.

Besides one guy, all of my doormen are never nice or go out of their way for me.

There is also this one porter who always runs to the door in the mornings, greets me by my name and always makes that extra effort. Since day one he has been sincere, genuine and customer serving.

This year I’m going to give him the biggest tip. He earns it. He wants it. And more importantly, he’s a super nice guy. His intentions are always to serve the customer (me).

And, I’m going to reward him by giving him my business (or, highest tip).

All I want from my other doormen is some effort. After all, what am I tipping them for? Show some effort. Give me the, “Good morning Adam! I hope you have a wonderful day!” That’s all I want. Is that so hard?

For some odd reason going that extra mile is too hard for most people.

To all my chairmen that read this. Yes, chairmen. Not doormen.

Good morning. I hope you enjoyed this post and have a wonderful day!