by Doug Stevenson

Created on: February 15, 2007   Last Updated: June 13, 2009

It was an odd reaction. I was in the middle of a customer service training session when my entire audience put down their pens almost at the same time, leaned back in their chairs and looked up at me with smiles and childlike innocence. It was as if a switch had been flipped in the room and all of a sudden the room was warmer. You know how you can hear the furnace turn on in the winter? It was like that, like the furnace turned on.

Up until that moment, the eighty people that were gathered in our chilly hotel room were listening to me, some more intently than others, while at the same time writing notes in their workbooks. They were listening, but they weren't really with me. I knew this because when I'd ask a question, it would take a minute for people to respond like their brains were on screen saver and when I put them on the spot it made them realize they were daydreaming of a beach in Jamaica.

But when I said those magic words, "let me tell you a story about a customer that I had" and I began telling a personal story, they all looked up and paid attention. They were right there with me hanging on every word. The only thing I can relate it to is a school of fish. You know how an entire school of fish turns left and then right and then left again at the same time as if they all have one brain? Like they are all one? Well the minute I started telling my story, it was as if we were all one. All of a sudden and without warning - we were connected.

At the end of that day, a number of people came up to me to thank me for the training. One lady commented on the story that I told and then launched into her own story about a customer she had. I didn't think much about it at the time but it kept happening time and again at every program where I told that story. My story reminded her of her story, but now she understood her story better.

Have you ever channel surfed on the TV? You're sitting there on your comfy couch with a liquid beverage in one hand and your trusty remote in the other and you're just flipping channels. Nowadays you can really do some flipping, can't you? There are hundreds of channels to choose from and they're all sitting out there hoping you'll pick them. And you, you're looking for something that catches your attention.

Are you aware that your audience is doing something very similar while you're talking? They're sitting there a few feet away from you and they're listening to what you're saying but in their mind they're flipping channels, waiting

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