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The art of connection...

By Ronald Curtis Jr

Once I made the decision to be an Entrepreneur I knew I was going to have to interact with people.

Ever since I was a young boy I always wanted to become a Millionaire. In order for that to happen, there must be a value for value exchange in everything that you do. The better you serve others, the more your business will prosper.

One of the fist books I read was, "Personality Plus" by Florence Litteaur. I knew it was imperative I learned how to connect with people, and since every person has a different set of personalities, it was important to learn about them.

Since reading that book, and several others on developing/improving people skills, it has become quite evident to me that these should be mandatory reading, not only for Entrepreneurs, but for everybody in any field.

Today, as an example, I was contacted by a gentleman from Hampton, VA. He responded to one of my ads in regards to carpet installation I posted on Craigslist. (Yes my wife and I actually enjoy installing small carpet jobs, it is a hobby of ours!)

Anyhow, his initial request was for me to look at his rental property and give him some options for replacing the carpet. My daughter and I went to the property, measured the job, then decided we were going to go price some materials in order to get him the best deal possible. (Mind you all we were asked to do was measure the job - always under promise and over deliver. Again this falls into the category of serving others, you know that value for value exchange deal we are talking about)

Long story short we went to Menards and did find him a great deal. Now here is where people skills become extremely important!

Rafael was the sales person on the floor and his people skills were terrible. Not to be tough here, but if it wasn't for my knowing what I wanted, there is no way this guy would have sold me anything. (If all sales people at Menards are like this guy, they are easily losing at least 50% of their potential sales!)

Not only were his people skills terrible, but his posture was bad, he didn't present a handshake when speaking with me about meeting my needs, nor did he show any real interest in helping me with my questions. (He was simply looking for the sale, no interest in serving the customer whatsoever)

There was even a slight problem with the amount of carpet we needed versus the amount they had in stock. Instead of Rafael making a suggestion to save the sale, I had to recommend that he contact his manager, and find us a similar carpet to make up the shortage so we can still close the sale. Once he contacted his manager, whom gave me the deal I was looking for, we did finally did do business. (I handled the problem, not my potential client, just as Rafael should have handled it, NOT ME)

Throughout this entire process, I was in constant communication with the homeowner and made everything happen for him. I WAS CONNECTING AND SERVING, which, in the process, established Trust and Credibility with my client. That is a sure formula for repeat business and excellent word of mouth advertising.

In the end, the only difference between Rafael and myself was simply the ability to connect with people, and always, regardless of the perceived situation, serve people and be willing to go out of your way to offer value to them. (That, and I have probably read 100's more books than he has!)

Always remember, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

Serve, serve, serve, help enough people get what they want and you will ultimately have everything you want! Spend some time on developing your people skills and watch how you will become more capable of connecting, establishing trust, and ultimately achieving your wildest dreams.

Everything in life is a value for value exchange. The more value you offer the marketplace, the more prosperity you will experience on your success journey!

In Christ,
Ron

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I will give a qualified agreement with much of what you said but I do feel that you have joined the ranks of what I call - experts (read a book once)!

Being a little long in the tooth and having seen the results of the slings and arrows of outrageous opinionates, let me say that I am me. I am nobody else. If you meet me what you get will be what you see. I do not become obsequious if I am trying to sell you something nor do I ever let my true opinions get masked by what someone else tells me is the case.

I delight in meeting people who, like me, are true to themselves and do not try to bend to satisfy the expectations of someone who has read what to expect. I like the sound of Rafael - he sounds like just the person to encourage me to find my own solution in exactly the same way that he encouraged you. Instead of leaving the shop feeling that you had not got the best deal, you left thinking "What a wuss! If I hadn't done all the work there would not have been a deal there!"

It sounds to me like Rafael gave you exactly the service he needed to to get you to buy - and that, after all, is his job.

Thanks for putting me in the league of the experts, though I would not call myself that at all. However, there is definitely an advantage to anyone that studies a subject more than another. In this case, the art of connecting with people should be top of anyone's list if they choose to work in any position of sales, or customer service.

There is a definite difference between an employee working a job, and a sales person working the show room floor. In any event, regardless as to the position any individual holds, I believe there is an importance at over-exceeding expectations and performing at your absolute best.

Granted, I do not like high pressure sales, however, there should always be the attitude to serve when being in a position of dealing with people.

As always, thanks for your comment. God bless you!

Irregardless of whether you got your moment of eureka from a book, it's still great advice that we all need to have reinforced. Nice job.

Thanks James! Being a subcontractor for Lowe's from 2000-2005 in Virginia, I used to have many customers that complained constantly about the sales people at the store. When I went to install the job, it was amazing to me how bad the sales person did at explaining the job to the homeowner and helping them make the best decision for their install. After being on the other side of the spectrum yesterday, it became more evident to me why that was the case.

If the concept or expectation of modern day employees is to "just do your job," there is no wonder why customer service has become a thing of the past.

Working with people is an honor, and those that take the responsibility seriously can not only achieve great success themselves, but the satisfaction of knowing you served your customers to the best of your ability is extremely rewarding.

A pet peeve of mine. Poor customer service. So many people hired to work in these stores (groceries, hardware, etc.) know little about the products or the processes. They can't problem solve and aren't too motivated to do so. They know people have only so many options and they tend to buy. They see themselves as more of a money taker not someone there to actually help (or serve). Furthermore I suppose these employess don't give a wit about the company's success. When we run our own business it's different, learn to serve or die.

Customer Service is where it is at. Like common sense these days though, it is not that common!
Thanks!
Ron

Craigslist huh? I had never thought of posting my wood flooring instruction services there. I will be looking into that today.

I have worked at both Home Depot and Lowe's as a flooring associate (they don't even call employees "salespeople") and Rafael's people skills and sales skills are probably more to do with who he is and what his motivation is. He is being himself. He gets paid whether you buy or not. He is just putting his time in to get a paycheck which probably isn't that much.

With that said the store probably didn't hire him for his people skills or sales ability. He probably was hired because he was willing to work for what they were willing to pay. Many companies have shifted away from considering their employees as assets and changed to looking at their employees as liabilities.

When an company considers an employee as an asset they get the best people they can find and pay them what they are worth to keep them. When a company considers an employee a liability (a necessary expense), they try to get the person who will work for the least amount possible and hire as few people as possible. When I worked at Home Depot I saw the transformation from the associates being assets (When Bernie and Arthur were running things) to associates being liabilities. It was sad to see.

Yes, Craigslist is an excellent way to find extra work!!

I was a subcontractor for Lowe's from 2000-2005 and the sales guys on the floor were very knowledgeable, and they did do their best at meeting the customers needs.

Here is my point, whether people are employees or sales people, they have a job to do. Since they have to be there, why not give it their best effort.

I understand the theory of, "I work just hard enough to keep my job, and they pay me just enough to keep me working for them." But that is the problem with our Country!

We have become a "gimme, gimme" culture without wanting to do the work. I suppose in the end, that is the difference between an employee and an Entrepreneur.

Thanks for the comment!

A millionaire, huh? When I was a little girl there was a promotion Ogilvies put on. If I collected 1 Million fake dollars from their products they would send me a new, red girls bike. Being from a family of 5 boys I had always had to ride boys bikes, so this "deal" was of great interest to me. I had all the neighbors and their friends collecting these bucks for me. I had bags full of fake money but never made it. My conclusion: One million is a lot of money! ;)

That's right, always wanted to be Financially Independent in order to live my life without the pressures of money determining/influencing our decisions.

My wife and I dream about all the missionaries we can fund, the charities we could start, etc. There is so much good that can be accomplished when wealth is in the right hands.

Thanks for sharing, God bless you.
Ron

I knew that nobody would agree with me about Rafael because it seems that the drum I march to is set so that only I can hear it.

Here is a sentence from this intel that has been keeping me awake because I find it so difficult to accept that anybody actually believes it - "Everything in life is a value for value exchange. The more value you offer the marketplace, the more prosperity you will experience on your success journey!"

Everything in life is a priviledge and is only on loan. To give in anticipation of reward is, to my way of thinking, a total negation of what a human being is. I have been desperately poor (even now I rely upon charity for the food I eat) and I have lived among the desperately poor but one thing that I do not see in the 'rich' half of the world is a sharing or caring community.

This one sentence condemns the western world for the acquisitive monstrosity that it is. Success isn't measured by what you own - it is measured by what you are prepared NOT to own in order to help your fellow human.

When it comes to business, everything is a value for value exchange. When you go to the grocery store, you exchange money for groceries. If there was no value in the groceries you are purchasing then you would not exchange money in order to purchase them.

You do not give with an expectation of return, you give willingly. The fact is, the more value you offer others, the more value you will receive in your life. It is the law of reaping and sowing.

You have not met the right "rich" half of the world. Unfortunately all you hear about the wealthy is negative, greed, etc. Though there is a select group of folks that fall into that category, for the majority, that just isn't so. "The more you give the more you will receive." There is a large, very large majority of the wealthy who give more than you could possibly imagine.

Be blessed,
Ron

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