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Home > Archive > Apr 17, 2008

Attitude
By Mac Mcgee
Having an attitude that is positive or negative affects more than just you. It affects your work, customers, clients, co-workers and everyone you come in contact with.
Outside forces or situations do not control your attitude, you do. So when you bring a bad attitude or negative “vibe” to work with you, you are affecting, or perhaps a better word would be “infecting,” all who come in contact with you.
On one occasion I was at a major hardware home center, in which a sales clerk felt “put out” because she had to stop what she was doing and assist me with my check out. Perturbed that I didn’t go through the ‘self-serve’ check out counters that were available, she grumbled, rolled her eyes & appeared disgruntled that I required her assistance. What she may not think about is there is a home center down the street that would love to have my business, without making me feel that I am a waste of their time.
How we portray ourselves to our customers says many things about who we are as  individuals. There are many factors that affect our interactive capabilities to include; how we were raised, our work ethics, communication skills (or lack of them), parenting skills or what our parents taught us was acceptable behavior in our homes.
Be the best you can be
I learned long ago that your perception of yourself is much different than the perception that others have of you. When we heard our voice recorded for the first time we said: “Do I sound like that?” The same would apply if someone videotaped your responses to customers and then played them back to show you the image and portrayal that your customers see. Seeing yourself in that “mirror” could change your attitude how you interacted and communicated.
I always seem to arrive at these home centers first thing in the morning to beat the crowds. The store manager gathers his group of employees to discuss the sales for the day and then instructs the employees to “be helpful.”
I believe that encouraging employees often to be ‘friendly’ as well as ‘helpful’ could be the solution to further sales and gaining customer loyalty. A friendly smile from the lady who had checked me out, and a cheerful “have a nice day” would have carried far greater significance to me. It would have made me feel like this was the kind of place I wanted to return to.
What was a bad day for her, turned into a lost customer and future revenues for the home center. Unless you can ‘be the best person you can be’ and treat each customer with  common courtesy – then I would suggest another line of work.

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