Transcripts

Richard Abraham, author of the book Mr. Shmooze , says a perfect example of this is when he went to speak to the CEO of a company to discuss doing some business.

And the CEO was interrupted a couple of times during the meeting by phone calls from people because he'd been robbed the night before at his home. So we began to talk a bit about the trials and tribulations of what he was going through. And I went out and bought him a book on how to deal with insurance adjusters; and you know, it hit. He called back a couple of days later and said, "That was very thoughtful" and the relationship was on.

But it not only works in business situations, says Richard, it works in all aspects of life.

I actually keep a little counter on my desk and I try to see if I can just lay a "shmooze" on somebody ten times a day. If someone says to you, "Gee whiz, I'm having a parent-teacher conference today, so I've got to leave." "Oh really what's going on?" "Oh you know there's a bully in the school." Boom, into the websites, trying to find out more about bullies and shoot that over to the guy. It can really be anything that allows you an opportunity to make an emotional connection with the other person.

People who give like this, says Richard, find that they are always rewarded.

I've studied them. I've got research people working on the topic. I wrote a Master's Degree thesis on it in college. But I've got to tell you every time you do it, it pays off in spades - every time.

At somethingyoushouldknow.net, I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.