The people who came before you
“Maybe I’m not listening to your pitch because the 100 people who came before you abused my trust, stole my time and disrespected my attention.
Perhaps I’m not buying from you because the last time someone like you earned my trust, he broke my heart.
People are never irrational. They often act on memories and pressures that you’re unaware of.”
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This was Seth Godin’s Blog Post this morning, and it rang true with me. Enough to pass it on.
I have been sharing my views for years that “we” (travel agents) have taught our prospects to cast their fates to the Internet for years. Time and again, we have let them down, shook their trust, gave them something to fear, question or down-right disbelieve. Not because we are bad people. Perhaps because we were in a rush or just didn’t see the need to do our homework. Of course they resorted to the do-it-yourself medium. What did you expect?
Now, our work is cut out for us. Don’t be a “we.” Be a “you.” Be the exception. Work hard at earning people’s trust again. Be that one “special” person in a hundred. Be fun. Be unique. Be interested … and before you know it, you will be “interesting.”
Need a hint? Call people back. Act like you are glad they called. Say thank-you more often and mean it. Listen with the intent to understand. Start a little bit earlier. Stay a little bit later. Take a different route to and from work once in a while. Take a walk. Work at becoming a magnet that attarcts people into your circle and not repels them away from you. Think. Breathe. Live. Love. Become something “special.”
Thanks Seth. I am off to enjoy another Monday. TGIM.