As a kid in the neighbourhood, I always knew the traders that did eyeservice.
Those that will rub my head.. Tug my cheeks.. call me 'fine boy', call me 'my friend'.. A particular woman even called me 'Daddy'.. Hian!
And I knew they did that to other kids in the neighborhood. So it was not special to me. It was all eye-service.
They knew that as kids, we were the 'messengers' of the house. The errandboys and girls. So, if they could get our love, they will get our patronage.
There were those who were not this smart tho, frowning their faces at us kids.. Telling us to take the things we wanted to buy ourselves.. They will be so impatient with our mistakes. Mistakes like, forgetting what we were sent to buy, or misplacing the money.
So, in the long run, guess who we stuck to.. The eyeservice traders of course.
Fake love is better than indifference.
"I don't care if people like me or not" is not one of the things an entrepreneur says.
People in my target audience must like me.
If you are a small business owner, you are in my target audience.. I strive daily to make you do.
If an entrepreneur is able to build a system that makes people in his target audience flock around him, even if they don't purchase immediately, he has laid the foundation for a very successful business.
People don't flock around people they don't like.