Friday, February 12, 2010

Holding On To Essentials

When I was in the seventh grade, our small high school band allowed our seventh grade band members to join with them and march at the football half-time performances. I played drums and the drum assigned to me the first two years was the tenor drum.


When I went into my freshman year I graduated to the snare drum and was given an old Slingerland snare drum. It sounded horrible, but I played it and loved it.

During my first half-time show as a brand new snare drummer we lined up on the end zone line and the majorette blew the whistle for us to begin.

Between the end-zone line and the goal-line I dropped one drum stick. I had to throw off the snares and help keep the beat with one stick, like I used to do with the tenor drum.

Between the goal-line and the ten-yard line I dropped the other stick. I had to march 90 more yards and not play one single beat on my snare drum during this, my first half-time show in my career as a snare drummer. You see, I dropped my essentials and that put me out of commission.

When I reflect back on this incident, here is what I take away from it.

Hold onto your essentials!

What am I talking about?

In life, there are some essentials that we all must hold on to in order to be effective. These would be the principles that we always fall back on and always hold close at all times in every situation when dealing with people.

Skills like:
Remember people’s names. Develop some handles and tips for remembering names. It matters.

Use appropriate eye contact. Look them in the eye. After all, you have nothing to hide. You are honest, trustworthy, and an upright individual. Give appropriate eye contact to every person you meet.

Know your product line. Know the significant facts about what you represent. Know how it helps, how it benefits their life, how it is new and improved, and what it does better than brand X or Y.

First Impressions Matter. Remember, in face-to-face meetings you have thirty seconds to two minutes to make a good first impression. You are being judged on everything from speech patterns, volume, words used, to your body posture, eyes, hands, clothes, and facial expressions, slump of your shoulders and a myriad of other signals you may or may not be aware that you are emitting.

These are the essentials. In your line of work I’m certain you could add a dozen more, and it is a good idea to do that. This is important.

Let me leave you with one final word that I learned a long time ago from Mary Kay Ash’s book People Management. . This is perhaps THE most important essential in human relationship building that you can learn.

“Imagine that every person you meet
Is wearing an invisible sign around
their neck that says
‘MAKE ME FEEL IMPORTANT’”.

Remember this and then adjust your relationships in terms of this thought. Watch the difference in how you begin to relate to people and how they relate to you.

And always remember ...

Hold On To Your Essentials!
__________________
Michael Biggs is a speaker, writer, and vocal soloist. He lives in Edmonds, WA. with his wife Carolyn. His company is called Up-Words, “Offering Hope, Encouragement, and Inspiration One Word at a Time”. He is available to speak to your business or organization. Please contact him at 206-349-1888 or email him at michael@up-words.net.

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