Be a Positive Ambassador in All Circumstances

So much marketing is geared toward young people.  It is for a good reason.  Young people tend to be impressionable.  The best time to sell to someone is when they are impressionable. 

This means that each of us should work to build positive morale, to help our associates succeed, and to be a positive brand ambassador for our company in all circumstances.

Sometimes the smallest things reap long-term benefits or long-term harm.  I've got a compelling story about long-term harm that might surprise you.

Let me tell you about Liberty Mutual Insurance.  You are probably familiar with them.  They advertise quite a bit, and from everything I read, they are a well-run, quality insurance company.

This is a true story based on an experience in my youth.  My mother and father ran a moving company in my hometown of Corsicana.  So I grew up working on a moving van.

I was probably 16 or 17 at the time, and we got a job to move Liberty Mutual Insurance from one office building to another.  It wasn’t a big office.  Probably had 4 or 5 people.  Being as young and inexperienced as I was, I was clearly the low man on the moving van. 

I don’t remember a thing about the furniture we moved.  I don’t remember a thing about the office locations.  I only remember one thing:  One person in that office treated me rudely and disrespectfully the entire day.  I don’t remember his name, so I’ll call him Mr. Mutual.

Here I was, a young kid.  I may have been acting like a fool.  Who knows?  But Mr. Mutual’s treatment of me made a strong, and very negative impression.  I was furious at the unkindness and disrespect.  That evening I commented to my parents that I would NEVER buy Liberty Mutual Insurance. 

You know what?  I never have.  Our company never has.  Not our business or personal insurance.  In my business lifetime, I bet that I have spent over 2 million dollars in insurance premiums. Not a single dollar has ever gone to Liberty Mutual.

You may be surprised and ask:  “Joe, have you held a grudge this whole time?”  The answer is no. Not at all. I’m sure Liberty Mutual is a fine company.  Maybe Mr. Mutual was just having a bad day.  I don’t hold anything against that company  (holding grudges is never worth it…), and I don’t remember a single detail of how I was treated.  I was a kid.  I may have misinterpreted the whole thing, or I may have been acting like a fool.

However, when I first made an insurance purchase in my early 20s, nearly 40 years ago, I was still sore about it and deliberately avoided Liberty Mutual.  I outgrew the resentment after a short while in business.  

However, as years have gone by, we’ve been inclined to be loyal to our vendors, so we’ve stuck with our insurance vendors for decades.  Liberty Mutual has never had a shot because we were satisfied with our incumbent vendors.

Think about it.  One person in a small branch office dissed the lowest-ranking worker on a moving van--some kid who wasn't even old enough to vote.  Over 40 years later, it has cost Liberty Mutual millions of dollars of potential opportunity. 

The lesson?:  We never know when our actions are going to make an impression.  That’s why we should consciously work to make positive impressions in every circumstance.