Sometimes, it’s easy to think about receipts. Finances, profits, bank account slips, those things are built on data. Black and white numbers that are straight forward and concrete. Relationships are messier. They move slowly and get tangled with feelings and emotions. It’s tempting to spend all our time on the “receipts of life.” To think that the numbers we control matter more than the relationships we participate in. Lately though, I’ve seen what can happen when you focus on both.

Buy one get one free. Half off Fridays. Bring in a friend, get a free meal. There’s no shortage of one time promotions your business can run. And the truth is, that more than likely, doing one of those will drive higher receipts for you that day. Maybe even that whole week. It’s really hard though to drive a long term relationship though with a receipt. It’s a great instant boost, but once the dust clears, things haven’t really changed.

That’s why, instead of spending much time and energy on short term receipt promotions, we’ve learned to do things like daddy daughter date night. Just like it sounds, that’s simply a special night when we invite dads and daughters to join us at Chick-fil-A on a date. And although it might not drive the instant sales and receipts as other promotions, you should see the relationships it builds. You should see how dressed up those daughters get. You should see how proud those dads are. You should see the long term impact a simple event like that has on Chick-fil-A.

Each day we have the chance to choose between relationships and receipts. I hope today you’ll pause long enough to explore which option might be best for your vision and your company for the years to come.

*Note: The image comes from a recent Daddy Daughter Date Night at a Chick-fil-A in Olathe Pointe.  That smile says it all.