How Can I Help You?
BNET Australia Contributors
Aussie Rules
Biography
BNET Australia Contributors
Brian Haverty is editorial director for CBS Interactive Australia and is responsible for the company's BNET and ZDNet Australia sites.
Robert Gerrish is a coach, author and professional speaker and the founder of Flying Solo, an Australian online community for solo business owners.
Melissa Lourenco is the HR manager for CBS Interactive in Australia.
Chris Golis is the author of The Humm Handbook: Lifting Your Level of Emotional Intelligence. He runs seminars and workshops on EQ.
Suzi Dafnis is Community Director of the Australian Businesswomen's Network.
Yvonne Adele helps organisations build a culture of ideas by teaching people at all levels to access their untapped creative thinking skills.
A little while ago I received an email from someone I had met months before in which I was thanked profusely for my behaviour. It seems that at this initial meeting I had done something unusual.
After an initial exchange of pleasantries, all I said was “How can what I do be of assistance to you?”
Simple words indeed and a genuine enquiry as at the time I had no idea what we hoped to accomplish together.
Anyway the point is that since being reminded of this meeting I have come to better grasp the benefit of asking an open-ended, or “open possibilities”, question.
If, in our business dealings we concentrate much more on “what can I do for you?” rather than the more typical “what can you do for me?” position, we can get rapidly to a place of meaning and purpose in our relationships.
Far too often at networking events, I witness business owners thrusting business cards and flyers into people’s hands while following the misguided belief that this is effective promotion.
To my mind it’s about as effective as those after-hours telemarketing calls — you may well convert one in a hundred, but you risk off-siding the other ninety-nine.
So, how can I help you?
