Page 24 - ConvinceThemFlip

convince them in 90 seconds or less
Rule Number One: When you meet someone, look them in
the eye and smile.” He nodded once, and waited for me to
acknowledge. I nodded back. Up came a second finger.
“Muldoon’s Rule Number Two: When you want them to feel
like they already know you, be a chameleon.” I frowned.
He caught it and changed the two fingers into a full hand,
indicating I should wait, then reduced it to three fingers.
“Muldoon’s Rule Number Three: Capture the imagination,
and you capture the heart.”
I sat back. I could tell he hadn’t finished. He sat back
as well.
“How many times a day do you deal with people who
don’t acknowledge your presence—who don’t look at you?”
“Dozens, I suppose,” I replied.
“Dozens of wasted opportunities. The single cheapest,
easiest, and most effective way to maximize the connec-
tion between yourself and other people—your customers,
colleagues, the receptionist back there, this cabdriver—is
to look them in the eye and smile. Do you know why?”
“Because it says you are honest and interested in
them.” I had a feeling as soon as I said it that this wasn’t
going to be enough.
“Yes, good, very good. But there’s more to it than that.
How seriously would you take your favorite TV newscaster
if he delivered the nightly news with his head down, read-
ing off printed notes or looking out the window?”
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