It’s #TrashItThursday and for today’s business lesson, I’m going to discuss dumping the trash talk and how if you don’t, it can and will negatively impact your business.
We all have an experience where we spoke badly about someone and then we came face to face with that person only to feel that pit deep in our stomach. That pit was felt for one of two reasons. We either felt terrible for what we said and were now mortified that they found out only to now be in their presence or, we can’t stand that person, we don’t care what we said about them but we are uncomfortable being around them. In either scenario, the only person feeling badly is you, the one that did the trash talking.
This can be a serious problem in business. If you speak badly about someone and they find out, the fact that you feel badly will not change the more pertinent fact that you probably lost a customer or client not to mention whomever they tell about it. If on the flip side you dislike the person and could care less if they ever purchase from you again, this is not the issue. Once again, that one person will take your vile comment and tell it to any listening ear. As we all know, when someone is telling a story, that story has a tendency to warp into something different and at this point your business is the direct recipient of disaster. Your inability to refrain from trash talking can cause you endless loss in revenue and your bad attitude will spread like a wild fire.
Here’s a quick example of why you should never trash talk. This actually happened to a client of mine. What you should keep in mind when reading this is that the business owner actually liked his employee but really wanting and needing this other guy to help him run his business he wrongly assumed he should trash talk someone to “break the ice”. So what happened was that this business owner needed a new manager to help run his business and he was able to land an interview with a highly sought after candidate. During the interview he discussed why he wasn’t hiring from within. Rather than tell this candidate that there wasn’t anyone who was really capable in the company to do this specific job, he decided to tell this candidate who he did not know personally how the guy “Mike” running things now is an idiot and who is fat because he has no self control amongst other things. Well, it turns out that “Mike” is the one who recommended this candidate and is actually friends with this candidate outside of work. What happens next is that they both discuss what was said at the interview and this business owner ended up not only losing two perfect people that his business desperately needed, he also now has two people plus their friends bad mouthing him and his company. His trash talk has made him a two time loser in this scenario.
This example that I just gave you is not by any means a rare occurrence, on the contrary, it happens everywhere and every day. If you only take one thing away from today’s posting, take this, a listening ear is attached to a wagging tongue. Remember what I am almost positive you have heard throughout your entire life and that is, if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all. There’s a reason this saying has been around for many lifetimes. Think about it.
Boy oh boy do I have the perfect book for you to read. It’s called The Power of Nice. Please read this. You will prosper in business as well as in life. I’m sure your library has it. If not ask your friends if you can borrow it from one of them who may have it. If neither of these options are available to you, here is a link to get it from Amazon>> https://amzn.to/2BFlT0T
If you choose to shop in Amazon, I would greatly appreciate it if you could use the link I have provided. As an Amazon Affiliate, it is possible I can earn a bonus and therefore continue to provide continued content we all enjoy. Thank you in advance!
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