Attitude is Everything (so watch out)

By Doc Pratt

“Attitude is everything” is a phrase I have heard for many years. I even use a coffee cup that has it written on it so that I see it constantly everyday.  Whenever anyone talks about attitude, they refer to it from the positive standpoint. They talk about PMA, having a Positive Mental Attitude.  A friend of mine who is an incredible sales trainer and coach, teaches that behavior follows the attitude.  Whatever your attitude is about something, like making cold calls or following up with clients, your behavior will fall in line it.

With that in mind, there is a significant negative side to the fact that attitude is everything.  I was recently in a store where the owner was helping a lady who had two children who were probably two and four years old.  These children were like any other children in that they were not quiet; they were playing and trying to entertain themselves.

One little girl kept running around the aisle I was in, would smile at me and run off. This did not bother me at all; it actually helped entertain me also while I was waiting. 

When the lady and her children left, the owner started making comments about how rambunctious the children were; you would have thought they destroyed the place. The situation had obviously put the owner in a foul mood, and that was the attitude she had when she started helping me.  I asked her questions, and her answers were very short and to the point. To on one of my questions her response was, “now let’s be serious,” as opposed to answering it. I still think it was a perfectly valid question and did not deserve the response it got. I had shopped in that store before on a number of occasions and knew that was not the way she always treated customers.

When I left the store I had two thought one was that I was glad to get out of there, and the other was that I will never go back. The owner of the store let her bad attitude get in the way of the customer relationship. So as you can see, good or bad, Attitude is everything!

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