Recently, I had the honor of speaking for a group of teens who were part of an anti-violence peer mentoring group. What an impressive group of young people they were... intelligent, fun-loving, and full of life. And they were committed strongly enough to being of great service to others to spend two hours of their evening at a monthly meeting - part of it listening to me - and many more hours in the field.
Because I wanted to give back to those teens who were giving of themselves, I decided to use a strategy I had heard of that is often used at executive conferences. I wanted to ensure that these young people would come away from my talk feeling valued and appreciated for all their efforts, Thorlos tennis socks in addition to getting the information on the topic I was presenting on.
I asked the woman in charge of the group to give me each of the members' names (what they liked to be called) and to ask each member to list what his/her favorite beverage and snack food was. I went a step further and asked that each member supply me with the names of his/her favorite singers and singing groups.
The next step was to buy the items that were on the list they had given me. Some were very easy to find, some were a challenge but no request was considered too much trouble. At the presentation there were tented name cards for each of the members. And alongside each of the name cards were the favorite beverages and snacks each had listed. A few extra universally liked goodies accompanied their favorites.
As each teen began to take his/her place, I heard a lot of wows and whoops. I heard "I can't believe she got us what we asked for!" I received some really nice "thank you's", mostly in teen vernacular. (Yes, on occasion, I do indeed rock.)
As for the music they most liked? I featured their favorites at the beginning of my Power Point Presentation where I go over the "Top Ten Reasons I Named My Business What I Did" (part of a signature talk I give) and later in one of the Success Strategies. In the Top Ten, I took out the references to people the teens wouldn't relate to and added the names of their favorite music artists.
Finding all these artists took some researching online - I found CD covers, the artists' pictures on sites that sold their music and on their official sites. I took time to listen to some of the 14 artists mentioned. I have to admit, there were even several I liked...I especially loved the uniqueness of the individual and group names.
Every time I mentioned one of their favorites during the presentation, there were cheers and claps. Everyone loves to hear his/her favorite mentioned....whether it's a sports figure, recording artist or whoever/whatever makes us feel good.
A lot of work, sure...but it was well worth it. When I talked about the strategies of "people and relationships first" and "putting great service to others first and the rewards would follow", I had them stop and think about what it felt like when they realized that they had been listened to and received what they asked for. I asked them to remember this when they were going to work in their careers and would be serving others. The look on many of their faces as the realization dawned on them of how this truly felt was priceless.
My other goal in asking them to give me their lists was to impress upon them the importance of asking for what they wanted...not now as teens when the sense of entitlement is at its peak...but later as adults when accumulated rejections, losses and disappointments make us forget the power of asking for what we want.
Giving people what they want and asking for what we want are both great jumping off points for our growth and success.
Kate Sanner is the CEO and founder of Vivacity. As "Jump Instructor", Kate helps a woman on the verge of doing great things to take the leap into the life she has been dreaming of...whether it's starting a business, writing a book or fulfilling a life long ambition. Once a woman has made the jump, Kate then provides tools and resources so that a woman can continue to take herself to new levels and to maximize and monetize all her efforts for continuous growth, financial gain and success. She is also a podcaster, Ezine publisher and internet radio show host. To get a FREE copy of Vivacity's "The Think and Play BIG System", a 10 Step, 46-page guide,- a $57 value - that shows you how to bring your vision for your enterprise into reality and onto new levels, go to http://vivacitynow.com and fill in your first name and primary email address in the box in the upper right hand corner, then click on Yes, Send My System Now.
No comments:
Post a Comment