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(+) & (-) words

We had a seminar yesterday evening about how to get more customers. Our school is afterall a business. Our customers include: students, their parents, the people that support our everyday activities (in a round about way), and the managers (from the staff's perspective). I really like the woman who did the seminar. Her daughter is one of our students. She never fails to impress me.
She's just so together and professional all the time! I was shocked yesterday to find out she's only 35 years old. Anyway, I digress.

The main goal of yesterday was to tell us how to make our business (our school) more appealing. She explained that customers are always looking for just a little more, they want to be surprised. If you go to McDonald's (or any other fastfood place) and someone greets you at the door and shows you to a table then you'd be surprised, right? However, if you go to a fancy restaurant you expect that kind of treatment, right? We have to think of our school in the same way! There are tons of kindergartens around here, so we have to think of ours as the fancy restaurant and be ready to greet the customers immediately and show them what makes us special (worth the extra yen!).

She told us 3 ways to increase your level of appeal:
1) Smiling and nodding your head when talking to people. Be actively involved in conversations.
2) The kinds of words you use: do you use plus (+) words or minus (-) words.
    Examples of (-) words include, but I'm sure aren't limited to: tired, can't, impossible
    I really tried to be aware of my word choices today and I must admit I did feel a difference!
3) "for you" - consideration for others. People tend to like being around others who are  
    considerate, right?

Finally, the other thing that really stuck with me was this:
You can't change your past or other people, but you can change yourself and your future!


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