Think about it. In every endeavor we are judged not only on what we do, but also on how we do it. This is a simple fact of life. We are performing whether we like it or not.
One day, in the early 1980’s one of my biggest advertising clients called me and told me that he was about to fire the agency. His reason was that he had just had a meeting with my account team and, during the meeting, he fell asleep because it was so boring. I asked, “Why are you firing us if you were the one who fell asleep?” His reply was a wake up call I have thought about every day since: He said, “If they were interested in my business and excited about the creative work, they would have shown their interest and made it exciting. Instead, they didn’t seem to care, and it showed in their attitude. I fell asleep. End of story.”
Fortunately for us, he later relented and did not fire us. I met with the team that presented and learned they had worked around the clock to get the presentation ready. They were exhausted at the presentation and it showed in the way they presented it. In fact the client loved and eventually approved the creative campaign that was presented that day. He did not like it at first because it had been “infected” by their performance when they presented it. It was a very good, and ultimately successful, idea that almost did not see the light of day because of a poor performance when first introduced.
The reality of business life is that we are all in “show business” whether we like it or not. Attitudes are the most contagious thing about everyone of us. If ours isn’t worth “catching” when we are trying to sell an idea, we simply won’t sell it. If we act like we don’t really care; if we appear uninterested, the person we are trying to sell will not buy.
Since that day back in the 80’s I have told every person I have ever worked with that “Attitudes are contagious. Please make sure yours is worth catching every day you work with me. We may not sell every campaign or win every piece of new business, but no one is ever going to feel we are not sincerely interested in doing business with them.” It is a simple but very effective (and profitable) formula for any service business. If you can’t get interested in your client’s business–a business that is paying your salary—you will soon be out of business. There really is no business without show business. They way you perform yours is critical to your success.