What can a person learn in Marketing 101? Here is the first lesson…
Today at the RV park, I walked our two dogs individually.
As Simba and I headed down the street, a young couple approached him. “Hello, cutie!” the man said to Simba.
These people have much darker skin than our family has. And, based on the bumpers stickers I had seen on their car yesterday, they also have different political beliefs from our family. But Simba did not care. He just loved him all the same. After spending a few minutes with Simba, the couple agreed that they had to have a Morkie just like Simba. They wanted to spend more time with our cute little Morkie, and I told them where our RV is in the park—even though they are different from us. I knew that being kind to them was the best way to persuade them to share our beliefs, if we decided to try to do so.
Then I walked Chico. When we were almost back to RV, a Canadian man named Gordie who lives across the street from us stopped to chat. We chatted for a while, and Chico was fine with Gordie. But then another man exited Gordie’s trailer with a beer can in his hand, obviously drunk. The second man was also different from both Gordie and Chico’s own parents because we do not get drunk. Chico let him know he did not like him. He immediately began growling, barking, and generally making a fuss. In fact, he also fussed at the Canadian man he had cared about previously after the second man came out. We quickly agreed to finish this conversation later, when neither Simba or Chico was around.
That young couple visited our RV two hours later. When they visited, we sat outside and chatted for hours about everything from medical problems to politics. Because we had been kind to them, they actively listened to our views—even though our views are radically different from theirs. Before they left, they said they would seriously consider what we had shared with them about our beliefs.
Later this afternoon, my husband and I were out walking without the dogs, and we ran into the couple again. We stopped to chat again, of course. They asked more questions about our beliefs, and before leaving they said something amazing. They said that they need to remove the bumper stickers on their vehicle.
If I was your instructor in “Marketing 101”, I would make these points about this story.
- If you want to market yourself, you should be kind to and open with everyone, especially people who are different from you.
- To sell your ideas, first you need to find common ground to open the conversation.
- Remember that kindness is the way to persuade someone to consider your beliefs.
- When someone cares enough about you as a human being to be kind to you, the way to return their kindness is to actively listen to them. Who knows? You just might learn something from the other person.
***
I am not a college professor, but right now I wish I was the Marketing 101 professor of the politicians in Washington, DC.
Politicians are human too, and capable of learning. In addition to learning these points, our politicians also need to learn that the American people are smart enough to watch all politicians’ behavior to figure out who to vote for. Americans are smart people and know that actions speak louder than words.
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View Comments (1)
Well said