As a print salesman and consultant, you might think my main job is selling and consulting on print projects for my clients. Well, to a certain degree, it is. But for those of us working in the service industry, we have to ask ourselves, “How do I treat people and how do I make them feel?” Improving customer service and developing better customer service skills is important not just in the printing industry, but in every industry.

Years ago I had an appointment with a lady who was the new project manager at a company I had been doing business with for 2-3 years. When she came in to Alexander’s for our meeting, I stood up, greeted her, and then we met for about 20 minutes to discuss the project. I thought the meeting went well, only to find out later she had called my VP of Operations, whom she knew personally, and told him she didn’t like me, and did not want to work with me. When asked why, she stated: “Because he was judging me for what I was wearing and because I wasn’t one of the cute little girls he was used to working with, he didn’t want to talk with me!” Wow, was I shocked! This was not the kind of feedback I had expected.

Over the years I have not only worked with people from all walks of life, but I have walked in many of those shoes. I have been a farm hand, construction worker, iron worker, sales clerk, private investigator, and the list goes on. So, I have tried to never judge someone’s self-worth based on their dress or job description. But on that day, in that meeting, I must have had a certain look on my face. Maybe I had the wrong body language. Somehow she walked out of that meeting, and concluded that I had acted offensively.

People are people, and for the most part we all have the same needs. We all want to feel good about who we are and what we’re doing. To some degree, we want to feel important and hope that other people like us for who we are. I often think back on this encounter as a reminder that when meeting people for the first time or the 100th time, we need to be nice. We need to act sincere, and truly care about people. Let people know they are someone you are genuinely interested in, and listen to them with your whole self.

For me, sales and consulting are just as much about people as they are about print or marketing projects or profits. When we focus on people, we automatically improve project management skills and customer service skills.