If you’re a business that is seeking a strategy to help you grow, the most powerful strategy you can implement may be something you’re not really thinking about. It’s something that is globally recognized as being effective yet at the same time, is being executed with growing infrequency.

And because of that – opportunity exists for those who do it well.

Let me explain.

In a world where investments of billions of dollars have gone into tools that helps us be everywhere, talk to everyone, and sell, sell, sell to the world, we’ve lost the basics of human nature and the elements that we need to connect.

Gary Vaynerchuck, in his opening chapter of The Thank You Economy, states that everything in the world is changing except human nature.

His point: though we are trying to shortcut, fast track and consolidate, we are forgetting that people still yearn to be heard, listened to, thanked and respected.

Too often, we put customers into categories, look at them as numbers and try to seek overall trends rather than understand that no matter how large their organization may be, decisions are still made by humans.

And there’s opportunity there if you seek it.

Consider this:

• The handshake is replaced by a keyboard.
• Eye contact replaced with video cameras.
• We’ve moved paper to plastic, shifted value to cost, and have taught an entire generation that a friend is nothing but a number on your computer screen.

Folks: the next big business trend won’t come from a computer, a phone, or a tablet.

It will come from the heart.

So how do we find opportunity in the obvious?  Find a way to say thank you. Find a way to make someone’s day. Take time to listen. Actually, do what you say you’ll do and follow up even though no one asked you to.

In other words, do unto others as you’d like done unto you.

Executing the basics has now become a marketing advantage if you do it right.