I heard a quote the other day that hit me like that “Should’ve had a V8 commercial”.

People will forget what you said.

People will forget what you did.

But they will never forget how you made them feel.

That quote is huge. It tells us to put a whole lot more focus in how we make people feel, and that words and actions are just the media we use to make people feel a certain way.

Let’s look at this in a few different contexts. (all of which are true stories in my personal life)

Scenario 1:

You attend a comedy club one night. You hear a great comedian who has you laughing so hard that your stomach hurts.

Years later, you see that same comedian is performing at a local bar near you. What do you remember? Do you remember all the jokes he told? Probably not, but you do remember how hard you laughed and how much fun you had, which means you’ll probably go and watch his show again.

Scenario 2:

You own a web development company. Someone refers you to a new business owner and you call to speak with them about their needs. They are somewhat rough on the phone, but ask you to send some price ranges and example sites, and then tell you they’ll followup in a week with you.

You send the stuff and wait a week and half, and then follow up. The new business owner gets really angry at the fact that you are following up and sends an extremely rude email. How do you feel? If you are like me, you are pissed at their rudeness and send an email telling them that you are no longer interested in doing business with them. And what do you do from there? Never buy from them and actively tell others they shouldn’t either because the owner is an Ass.

Scenario 3:

You attend a presentation on a topic in your industry. You are really excited about this conference and go listen to a whole bunch of different speakers.

Some speakers provide really good content, some speakers are terrible presenters, and some speakers make you feel like you can take on the world? Who would you be interested in working with or possibly hiring to consult with your business?

Years later, when you are looking for subject matter experts, who do you remember? The bad speakers, the ones who just gave a bunch of information, or the ones who made you feel good and empowered? Obviously it’s the latter. It’s amazing how many conferences I have been to that I could never tell you what the different presenters I liked said, but I can tell you which ones stood out- they made me smile.

Takeaway:

Remember this lesson as you go throughout your day. You never know how the person you are dealing with may affect your future prospects in business. Treat everyone as a valuable person and I bet you will build a network of people ready to refer you and keep you top of mind in a positive way.