The other day I found myself in a very interesting conversation about strangers.
Her: “I always try to be as nice as possible to strangers”
Me: “Really? Why?”
Her: “Well, you never know who that person is and what if they’re the most important person in the World?”
Me: “So you assume everyone you meet/talk to is the most important person in the World?”
Her: “Precisely”
Me: I didn’t say anything just had a small explosion go off in my head.
My boss has always told me when going to a small town bar, make sure you treat the waitress like gold because she probably owns the place. I think this is a great metaphorical life lesson.
The person who I know who is the best at dealing with people does this all the time. You can see it when he talks to anyone, yes I mean anyone, he gives them the time of day, he truly cares about what they think and he makes them feel like they are the most important person in the world. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, this strategy works wonders for building your personal and professional relationships.
Where can you start? Remember peoples names more often. To anyone the most important word in the english language is his/her own name, if someone remembers it, it’s a sign of respect. Here’s a few tips on how to remember better.
If you have a story about treating a stranger really well that resulted in something amazingly spectacular I’d love to here about it in the comments below!
There’s an event that happens every July in Regina that would give Chuck Norris a boost of Testosterone.
The Coveted Cup:
20 guys, 10 teams, 3 days, 6 sports, 2 champions that get 363 days of the best bragging rights ever.
We start off the weekend with a home run derby. Second comes the beer dart tournament after a friendly BBQ. Saturday morning comes quick if you’re not prepared, 9:00am head to the beach volleyball court for some early morning two on two. Break for lunch then off to the tennis courts for a four hour long debacle, people say it’s comparable to a tournament called Wimbledon. Nicknamed “Slaughtering Saturday” because of the fierce competition endured, we wind down with good ol’ poker tournament. The final event of the weekend is out at the beautiful Dear Valley Golf Course. Oh I forgot to mention, the last placed team gets kicked out of next year’s Coveted Cup.
A portion of our entry fee goes to Kidsport, so we are giving back a little as well.
The scoring algorithm our good friend Trevor Galon came up with would rival that of university mathematician. Trevor plans the entire Coveted Cup and our hats go off to him for one of the best weekends of the year.
2010 Winners:
Home Run Derby: Baron/Badger
Beer Darts: Baron/Badger
Beach Volleyball: Bozak/Solomon
Tennis: Baron/Badger
Poker: Tran/Rink
Golf: Galon/Maystruck
Overall Champions:
Badger/Baron/Lausch*
*Lausch golfed with Badger instead of Baron.
Anytime you cross someone in a bad way they will remember. Your reputation is your business. We have the ability to communicate online with thousands of people instantly, it is what those people say about you that becomes your reputation.
Humans remember the bad things much longer than the good, if you have broken someone’s trust in the past I’d suggest working on making it better soon because it’s going to take a while. Think of the last person who broke your trust, have you worked with them since? How do you feel about him/her?
Trust is a peculiar trait, difficult to earn but once trust is established amazing feats can be achieved. On the contrary, if you lose someone’s trust it is extremely difficult to earn back and you probably ruined the relationship you had with that person. In the small business landscape that Saskatchewan is, you can’t afford to break someone’s trust, word spreads too quickly.
Remember:
- you can’t hide your reputation
- acquiring and keeping ones’ trust will be one of the most important things you ever do in business
- bad things spread much faster than good
- people who really do trust you will defend your reputation as if it were their own
- if your business is not based on integrity you will lose in the long run
Photo Credit: Kat Jackson
Helping out at Regina’s Canada Day in Wascana Park I met a young gentlemen who was volunteering for the day. Blain, a quick-whited kid, just a bit younger than myself, had an adorable dog named Dewey with him at all times.
Just after sunset in the park, a man rushed over to Blain and I, he had a severe problem on his hands. Here is how the he started the conversation, “I have to go to the washroom but when you close the outhouse door you can’t see anything in there and the Legislative building is locked, I need to go to the washroom, what should I do?!?” Without missing a beat in a condescending tone Blain snapped, “well I could guild you!” Trying as hard as I could not to laugh at what just occurred in front of me, I helped this guy explore his washrooms options, apologized to him for not having lit outhouses, and he went on his way. It was a very interesting moment for me.
You see, Blain is blind but that doesn’t really stop him from doing anything. He can golf, get to and from places on his own (via talking GPS device), volunteers in the community and can go to the washroom in the dark on his own. Blain doesn’t complain very much and he makes the most out of life. I think if we saw the world through Blain’s eyes we wouldn’t be so quick to complain over a dark jiffy biffy.
So smile, we have it pretty good.
Photo Credit: Steven Wilde “Fireworks” from the Regina Canada Day Facebook group
