Commitment to friendship brings increased results
Excuses are very easy to find, and when expressed with a heartfelt explanation they are generally accepted with goodwill. But what does your conscience say to you after the excuse is made? Is it really impossible to follow through, did you consider your friend’s viewpoint and how would the final result look should you be able to make the request work?
The hard core facts in my head not to attend Jeanine’s wedding were solid:
– Expensive to travel
– Projects due
– Not enough time
BUT
Jeanine is one of my longest term friends. We have a special memory together. We met the summer of 1966 as exchange students in Guadalajara Mexico where we shared a room in a family home. Her hometown was TX and mine CA. I never laughed so much as I did with Jeanine. In particular, I found great humor when she would occasionally say, “Como esta y’all?” – combining Texan and Spanish all into one sentence!
Upon seeing Jeanine’s invitation to her wedding (her first husband was a wonderful human being but passed early in life), I knew no excuse would do, I had to be at her wedding. This past weekend I got to meet her fiance, children and grandchildren. It was wonderful to see they have a similar sense of humor. Some of her co-workers were there too. It was a small gathering and I was honored to have been asked to attend. It was the right thing to do.
You may be wondering what does this have to do with business today? We had actually lost track of one another for a few years. But when my first book, Nice Girls DO Get the Sale: Relationship Building That Gets Results was featured in TIME Magazine, Jeanine call me to inquire whether I was the one she came to know in Mexico. A couple of years later she was able to arrange for me to provide a sales training seminar for her staff. The appropriateness of the book title applies 100%. I reconnected with a few people of that staff at her wedding. New possibilities arose by reacquainting there.
The same is true for job seekers wanting to do well on interviews. With your mindset focused on building relationships with everyone you meet, unexpectedly you will attract the right right job.
My good friend will be moving to the west coast with her new husband making it easy for the four of us to see one another more frequently. We are both committed to our friendship and it is destined to always be a Smooth Sale!
