Expert Advice about Presentation Skills
from Patricia Fripp

Have you often noticed how the most profound lessons usually come from the most straightforward everyday experiences?

You might hear a funny or profound speaker seemingly talking about mundane situations, and you think, “Nothing like that ever happens to me.” Of course, it does, or you wouldn’t relate to it. That speaker has attributes meaning where it doesn’t usually occur, turning ordinary moments into powerful lessons.

For example, in a speech on good customer service, my client said, “Patricia, our associates don’t stay in Ritz Carlton; they don’t shop at Nordstrom. How do we teach them what good service is?”

I responded, “Very easy. We are all customers. You need them to act as business consultants based on their experiences and then apply what they learn to their company.” I shared some of my good and bad customer service stories and asked them, “Who would like to tell me one of yours?”

A young woman raised her hand and said, “I went into a store to buy a leotard to go under my child’s Halloween costume. I made a mistake and took the wrong size. I hadn’t opened the package, so I returned it and said, ‘Excuse me, could I change this for another size?’ The clerk rolled his eyes and said, ‘You don’t even know what size your kid is?’”

She continued, “I made another purchase, wrote a check, and accidentally put the next day’s date on it. The clerk threw the pen across the table and said, ‘Will you initial that?’ I went up to the Customer Service Department and told them the story.