When I was working in corporate sales, everything we talked about came back to "meaningful interactions". But, when it comes to interactions, what makes on meaningful? And how can you tell if it's been meaningful to BOTH parties?

Let's explore.

A Definition

You know I love me a good definition, but "meaning" is actually pretty difficult to define. Why? Because different things are meaningful to different people.

One of my favorite ways to indicate whether or not something was meaningful, is for it to be memorable.

I've had memorable conversations with clients that made me feel good. I've had memorable conversations with managers that made me feel bad. I've had moments with my son that are simple, yet memorable forever. I've had entire vacations that I've mostly forgotten because nothing really memorable happened.

I believe that when we remember something, it's because that moment speaks to us in some way. Usually because what happened is either truly aligned or completely misaligned with who we are as a person.

So, if we use this definition of meaningful interactions to include the fact the interaction was memorable, then we can start to build a strategy around how to create that.

Are You Being Memorable?

There's a famous quote by Maya Angelou that speaks very clearly to this concept:

"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you make them feel"

When it comes to being memorable, there's a huge clue in this quote.

It's about FEELING.

When it comes to marketing and sales, often we get caught up in the DOING of things. The number of cold calls we make. The number of impressions on a digital ad. The number of likes on a post. The number of people who read our blog. But none of those things have anything to do with the FEELING we leave another person with.

And that's the biggest problem.

We get too busy focusing on what to say, and doing things; which leaves us wholly in the Forgettable Zone.

Not where we want to be.

So, if we're looking for ways to be more memorable, we need to find our unique ways of making people FEEL a thing that we care about them feeling.

Take Off Your Thinking Cap

The only way to get into the feeling mode from the thinking mode is to take off your thinking cap...

...and put on your feeling cap.

This is where we explore what WE are feeling in any given scenario, and open ourselves up to what the other person in the interaction is feeling.

It means arriving to an interaction with an openness to explore and understand; a willing ness to support and help; that TRUMPS a need to market or sell.

Our feeling caps allow us to build relationships authentically, so that the two people in the interaction feel seen, heard and appreciated.

A Competitive Advantage

We all need a competitive advantage to thrive in the business world. We look at things like price, speed, availability as things we should all drive for. But what if you were simply the best at making your interactions with people more meaningful than your competitors?

What if people KNEW the real you?

What if people LIKED you as a person?

What if that led to you becoming the most TRUSTED in your industry?

Sounds like a competitive advantage to me.

But it doesn't happen without INTENTION.

The intention to make your interactions as meaningful as possible.

For yourself and others.

This is a HUGE part of your brand experience. And at the end of the day. your brand is nothing more than someone else's experience of you once you leave the room.

Make it meaningful 💖

Whether that's an in-person or a digital interaction.

Are you ready to rethink your digital brand?