I had a very interesting conversation with a lady who has been looking for a job for a while.  She has sent in countless resumes and has actually acquired four interviews from four different companies.  In all four cases, she never heard back from any of them.  No rejection letter.  No thank you for interviewing letter.  Nothing.  She said to me “I realize that I must not have been the best choice for the job but the least they could have done is told me that I did not get the job”.  She had waited for weeks to hear from all of them and nothing.

Her next like was priceless … “You know, if they can’t even take a moment to tell me that I didn’t get the job, then I don’t think they deserve me as a customer in any way”.  Wow.  When she left, I realized that companies have to watch every aspect.  They can lose a potential customer in so many ways.  She said “You know, some day, I hope the HR person and the person who interviewed me are looking for a job and no one gets back with them.  Then they will know how it feels.” 

 Interesting.  What are your thoughts? 

The Troy/Maryville/St. Jacob Chamber of Commerce 20th Annual Auction is set for Friday, April 16.  The event will be held at Gateway Center in Collinsville.  There will be over 200 Auction items and we anticipate over 500 ticket sold.  There are some incredible items and in addition, all three mayors from the communities, along with Tim Greenfield, will be providing entertainment in the form of a dance contest.  Now, I have seen the dancers and trust me, all attendees are in for a real treat.

The dress for the evening — very casual.  Bring out your jeans, bobby socks, poodle skirts — whatever you see fit!  Also, we have Elvis (Steve Brandes) performing that evening as well. 

For more information, be sure to visit the Chamber’s website at www.troymaryvillecoc.com.  Ticket are available through April 5.  We hope to see you there.  

In my training sessions I talk about the importance of building relationships.  What does that really mean?  How will you know when you have started to build a relationship?  Well, have you learned one unique thing about the customer?  Are you able to refer to that unique item at another time when the customer returns?  Did you make eye contact with them?  (Okay, then what color were their eyes?)  Did you follow up with them when they made a purchase and thank them?  (That is a WOW!) 

Do me a favor — concentrate today to build one relationship with one customer (internal or external).  Let me know how it goes.

One of my favorite things to do is to provide a keynote speaking for groups.  I truly believe the trick to a good keynote speech is to provide stories that everyone can relate to.  If you have ever heard me speak, there is no doubt you have heard the grocery store story, the Barry Manilow story, the Bailey story and all of the others that I have told for many years.  The other night I was asked to speak to a group.  I knew the person who contacted me but had no idea what others would be in attendance.  When I arrived, I noticed that probably half of the 100 people had already heard me speak so I had no doubt they had heard