The value of a smile
At my 40th birthday celebration my wife told the story about how I always greet with a friendly hello and a smile. One such occasion was in the middle of the Karoo on the way to our annual family holiday at the coast. As always, I greeted the petrol attendant with “hello my friend, can you please fill up the tank” to which my son, then aged 5 asked “gee dad, do you really have so many friends?”
It got me thinking about the value of a smile and a friendly greeting. My philosophy is to treat everyone the same way as I would like to be treated and the quickest easiest fastest way to make a good first impression is with a smile. It doesn’t deny the fact that you may be anxious about meeting a new contact, but it will definitely break the ice with that initial introduction. And what then follows will be more natural and instantly jump-start the conversation.
I appreciate that every job has its frustrations but we definitely don’t need to wear it on our sleeve, or face!
01 Feb 2016
Author Jonathan Broekman