Using the Holidays to Grow Your Business

Happy Thanksgiving! As we approach the holiday season, it is important to have a strategy for how to go about using the holidays to  grow your business. Luckily, I have something for you that is not only easy to do, but will be a skill you can use all year round! Improve your eye listening this holiday.

What? Eye listening?

Yes. Use this holiday season to improve your ability to Listen with Your Eyes. This is a much more fun way to say “observation skills.”

To watch a video on this, go here.

You have MANY opportunities all season long to engage in conversations with others and to improve your observation skills. Here are just a few:

1. Holiday Parties– Take advantage of the holiday office party to better understand a colleague’s nonverbal behavior. Use the neighborhood open house gathering to learn what your neighbor’s do for a living and see if any of them would be good connections for you. Take note of the posture of the folks who are easy going and talking to many in contrast to those who are “wall flowers” and seem awkward.
2. Shopping– There are interesting personalities all around you! While you wait in long lines, look for clues as to who is bored, anxious, tired, angry, happy, etc. See if you can create a narrative for what is going on in their mind!
3. Restaurants and bars– One of my favorite places to “listen with my eyes.” Take some friends with you and see if you can create the conversations of the tables around you! Who is on a date? Which table is a business dinner? Who is comfortable and who is not?
4. Family Gatherings– Use 2017 as the year you deepen your relationships with your family members. When you really listen with your eyes, your mouth tends to close, which gives others a chance to share and for you to care more deeply. Learn their difficulties and how you can help out. See who notices the difference.

Every day is an opportunity to observe individuals and grow your “eye” skills. Observation builds both our personal and professional relationships. Have a wonderful holiday season and keep me posted on how you are “listening with your eyes!” Want to bring “Listening with your Eyes” to your business? Go here.