“The only way to have a friend is to be one”

As people made there way into the auditorium, they didn’t know what to expect from well known motivational speaker and corporate trainer Paddy Spruce. Perhaps they were hoping Paddy could provide them with some inspiration, motivation, energy and optimism during these tough economic times.

As soon as the audience got themselves comfortably seated, Paddy asked the people sitting at the back to find a seat closer to stage. As this happened and people found seats next to strangers, introductions were being made left, right and centre. One of objectives of the session had been achieved! New friendships were being made amongst the CPA revellers!

Paddy began his presentation by outlining some key points on how to make a great first impression and also how to influence people. Although a lot of these points were nothing new to a lot of people, I thought to myself how some of these simple points that Paddy raised could dramatically enhance ones relationships, both personal and business.

Whilst Paddy provided the audience with plenty of useful tips and pointers, some of the key points I took out of the presentation included:

Make a good first impression

• Dress to impress
• Smile
• Firm handshake
• Look the person in the eye
• Remember name
• Look interested

Winning friends

• Become an optimist
• Listen more than you talk
• Don’t complain
• Be loyal and reliable
• Offer help
• Drop your ego

In relation to the last point, “Drop your ego”, Paddy spent some time talking about “ego”. The points that he raised were all valid and I couldn’t help but think of my colleagues, clients and friends who had a big “ego” and whether they were successful at “Winning friends”. And Paddy was right, people with an ego are often too focussed on themselves, they are often controlling, need to be superior, have a false sense of self, they live in the past, likes attention and conflict. How can someone with such traits be optimistic, a good listener, offer help? The key points to “Winning Friends”. Funnily enough, David Gonski’s in his presentation later that afternoon mentioned that he won a lot of business by stroking peoples ego!

At the end of the presentation, whilst I did not feel like I had drunk ten Red Bulls, it did make me think about how I could improve on my personal and business relationships and how to make a good impression! All of this takes time and assessment of yourself…time to turn off the ego!

We hope that our readers find this useful in terms of developing new contacts and forging stronger relationships with staff, clients and industry contacts. Professional services and particularly accounting is very much a relationship business. This was a point raised in the small business enterpreneurship session yesterday as well. It is definently an area we can all continually improve on.

The Taxabull team is attending the CPA Congress as a guest of CPA Australia.

You can follow us on twitter: twitter.com/austax

Cheers,

Taxabull team.