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Insurance Articles
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Mind Your Own Damn Business Sexcess
By Lee Raito
You have certainly heard the expression ?mind your own damn business? used in a multitude of contexts. The most typical being the don?t kiss and tell type statements, often uttered by responsibly private individuals about their love life. Then there are the polar opposite, blabbermouth, tell all people (you know who you are) that just can?t keep their preverbal trap shut. Many may believe that there are specific gender biases towards kissing and telling, yet this remains unproven scientifically. So what the heck does this have to do with business and let alone success? Consider what happens when you replace ?the love life? portion of the kissing and telling story with ?your or your employers business?! All of a sudden it hits you. Your success in business can be inextricably affected by what comes out of your or your employee?s mouths. Here?s a short, but true, story for you about a salesman that was furious about something while he was out to lunch, at a small café. This built up anger was taken out on a waitress, who was one of four high school kids working there for the summer. He was loud, rude, and flat out disrespectful to the girl, and his overreaction to the situation brought tears to the waitress?s eyes. The three other kids watched and intently listened to the entire incident. One of the two boys behind the counter said, ?I know that guy. I?ve seen him in my father?s office.? Remarkably, each of the four high school kids had a parent who was a doctor. They found out from the boy?s father that the angry customer was a salesman for a pharmaceutical company. Then and there, each kid planned to tell their parents not to do business with that salesman. Everybody knows somebody, so remember being nice to someone might not get you a client, but being mean to someone could kill your business, even if it?s a kid. So kissing and telling, good, bad or indifferent, stories can obviously have a dramatic impact on your bottom line. It?s a good reminder to keep your trap shut, or at least take some time think about how you treat people, and especially how you discuss potentially embarrassing or harmful information with those around you. It?s not enough to leave a name out these days, as in some industries people can figure out whom you are talking about pretty quickly. So unless you want to be tied up in litigation, for the next ten years, please mind your own damn business sexcess! by Lee Raito, CFP, FMA 
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