Building trust and showing someone that you care can take hours, weeks, or even months. And sometimes it just doesn’t happen. This could be due to many factors like constantly being ignored, or unknowingly ignoring someone resulting in a lack of communication, a bad first impression, or just never really connecting with that other person. Our constant struggles to build trust can be exhausting… especially if there is a lack of communication.
Unforeseen turbulence
The universe has an odd way of sending signals to us when things just aren’t going the way we planned. For example, you scheduled a day for hiking. You make a list that includes the essentials such as food, water, sunscreen, bug spray, etc… You have prepared as much as possible and you are all set for your hike. You arrive at the trailhead, you look up and see beautiful blue skies. The birds are chirping and you are excited to start this hiking adventure. As your hiking, you see that the clouds are building up. Your excitement shifts just a little, but you keep moving forward continuing down the trail. After hours of hiking, you hear thunder, the feelings of excitement are starting to shift into worry. The rain starts pouring down! All though you brought a rain jacket to deal with these unforeseen situations, you feel like your hiking adventure is now ruined… ☹
Even though we plan and prepare for rough situations, it is how we deal with them when they begin to pour down on us. Sometimes we take a defeat really hard when trying to build trust with our customers. At one moment we are excited, and the next moment we are crushed.
Truly a mindset
A reflection of how we feel emotionally can sometimes affect our outcomes with customers. If we are happy it shows, either with our smiles and joyful laughter, or how we carry a conversation. If we are upset or sad it shows, either with our lack of smiles, lack of laughter, or unwillingness to carry on a conversation. Having a positive attitude can have positive effects. Way back in the day I was in sales, and oh boy was good at it! Always at the top of the leader boards. Winning awards for outstanding sales numbers, customer service awards, and even leadership training awards teaching others my craft so they could be successful. One day someone I was training asked me how I was able to keep my numbers so high? And how in the world did I connect to people so well? I responded to the question with one simple answer. “Mindset”.
When you go to work and your head is spinning with thoughts of a rough morning or week, try as hard as you can to change your mindset, be in the moment, and be the best person you can be. If we are frustrated or angry about something the feelings that we have can be projected and seen by others.
Never forget lessons learned
I once worked as a help desk technician assisting 30 to 40 customers per day. I was assisting a customer with a new gaming system build and I overheard my colleague arguing with someone. When I looked over at my colleague, he looked frustrated and distraught. I walked over and asked if everything was ok. He immediately asked me if we could talk privately. I agreed and told the customer we would be right back. My colleague began explaining to me that the customer he was assisting came in needing help installing software. As he tried to help, the customer became angry because it was taking too long. My colleague said he apologized and continued working on getting the software installed. After a few more minutes, he said the customer began cursing at him and told him to just refund the money for the software. I told my colleague to take a deep breath and remember that people have bad days and good days, and someone’s bad day can be projected out and tossed onto others even if they do not mean to do it.
My colleague followed me back out to the customer and I told him we should focus on the customer instead of the software on the computer. As I began talking to the customer, I asked how their day was going other than the software installation issues. The customer immediately began to cry, I then asked what was bothering them and the customer said their son passed away a few weeks ago and the software was a gift from him before he passed.
The lesson to this is that you can never assume someone’s anger is only about something like not being able to install software. You never truly know what is going on in a person’s life. Sometimes you must focus more on the person and less on the problem, and don’t be afraid to ask if they are ok.
Someone once said to me that when you go to work, the grocery store, or any public place, you are always onstage. I carried that with me my whole life and continue to include that within my daily mindset.
So rather it is your first or last day on the job, first or last presentation, first or last team meeting, or just going to the grocery store. Try your best to leave the worries and troubles in the past, and instead focus on the days ahead. Adjust your mindset for the day! We can project how we feel upon others, and negatively affect others around us because we are always onstage.
Until next time 😊