Greetings,

This post was inspired by an article I read this morning in AutoInc -- " The Secrets of Great Customer Sales and Service" by Danny Sanchez. I found it to be an excellent article and I highly recommend it. Here's a small excerpt:

"The secret to maintaining a level of energy that is large enough to handle situations like this and still pick up the phone with a cheerful smile is: Passion. Without passion, your business is just another storefront exchanging goods and services for cash - not a highly respected and widely referred business with lots of loyal, raving fans."

There are those who play down or altogether dismiss passion as an important component of success. Perhaps one can be successful w/out passion, but it seems to me that passion (at some level) is a distinguishing factor. It is, or can be, that 'one thing' that sets you ahead of the competition.

There are lots of places that work on cars, even lots of places that actually fix them. So skill, expertise, and competency alone aren't enough. Don't misunderstand me, they're important, very important; not being skilled and competent is a path to failure, BUT consumers/customers EXPECT AS A BASELINE that you're skilled and competent at what you do, so being such is not "special." What IS special, however, is a person who cares, a person who is empathetic, a person who has a genuine, passionate, interest in serving and helping others.

Do those who are responsible for interacting with the public, who serve as your "ambassadors" to your business, have such passion? If so, is it evident in their interactions? If not, why not?

Is passion for them something that is waiting to be discovered or tapped into so to speak, or is it not part of their mindset or personality?

Have their experiences in business and/or in life been such that they have glass-half-empty attitudes, that their approach to people is one of suspicion and skepticism, a kind of, "I gotta get them before they get me" mindset? If so, can they learn to 'adjust' to a more optimistic mindset?

The various sales/service techniques and methods I (and others) have espoused here in this forum over the years (and in other places too) are best understood and applied by those who are 'people-persons' -- That is to say, individuals who like people, who have a sincere interest (passion) to serve people, and who have an optimistic mindset. Consequently, these same techniques and methods tend to be misunderstood or out-and-out rejected by those who are not people persons, who do not have a passion for serving others, and who have a pessimistic mindset.

Just some thoughts on a Thursday morning.

Regards,

Mark Hambaum
Educator/Instructor/Consultant
MDH Automotive Services
Richville, Michigan, USA