Competence is one of the keys to career and life success that I discuss in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success. Competent, successful people do four things well. 1) They create positive personal impact. 2) They get things done – they perform. 3) They communicate well – in conversation, writing and presentations. 4) They build and maintain strong relationships with the people in their lives.
It’s not difficult to create positive personal impact, but you do have to work at it. I have a model of customer service that I use with my consulting clients. It begins from the premise that after any interaction your customers “rate” you. The people in your life R.A.T.E. you too. You can use your R.A.T.E.ing to build positive personal impact. It works like this…
• R stands for Responsiveness;
• A stands for Assurance;
• T stands for Tangibles; and
• E stands for Empathy.
If you notice, only one of the four points in the model – tangibles – is what you actually do for or deliver to the people in your life. The other three are the emotional measures by which people judge you. These emotional measures are at least as important as the tangibles you deliver, especially when it comes to creating positive personal impact.
You have to deliver the tangibles. You must produce results. That’s the cost of a ticket to the personal and professional success sweepstakes.
However, you have to pay attention to the other three factors – responsiveness, assurance, and empathy – if you’re going to make a positive personal impact while you’re performing. Let’s look at each of these three in detail.
Responsiveness. You have to ensure that the people in your life see you as someone who is willing to help; someone who understands what needs to be done and is willing to do it. Other people need to think that you will give them what they want, when they want it, and in a manner that they can use it.
Assurance. You have to be able to convey trust and confidence. People need to feel that you are going to deliver. To do this, you must be very knowledgeable about the people in your life and their needs and wants. You need to be clear on what you can offer them to help them meet their goals. You need to ensure that they are confident that you will do what you say you will do.
Empathy. The people in your life must perceive you as an individual who understands, cares about, and pays attention to their needs. To do this, you need to be willing to walk a mile in your customers’ shoes. You have to demonstrate to them that you are aware of and sensitive to their unique and individual needs.
The common sense point here is simple. Successful people create positive personal impact. If you want to create positive personal impact, you must do more than deliver results, look good, and act graciously. You need to get high R.A.T.E.ings from the people in your life. You have to be seen by others as a person who is responsive to their requests. You have to build trust with these individuals, and you need to demonstrate that you understand their needs and issues. Focus on finding ways to be responsive, assuring and empathic and you’ll create positive personal impact.
That’s my take on creating positive personal impact by improving your R.A.T.E.ings with other people to create positive personal impact and build your success. What’s yours? Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
It’s my understanding that studies have shown that people do business with you because, in this order: 1) They LIKE you; 2) They TRUST you; 3) You make or save them money, you produce the results.
It sounds like you are saying the same thing here. Too many people think only about providing the service, and forgetting the other factors.