If we receive an email or voicemail from a potential new Collegewise family, we’re already on stage. They’ll notice how long it takes for us to respond, how well we answer their questions, and how easy it is to get an introductory appointment scheduled. The evaluation starts before we even meet each other. If we mess up those first interactions, we’re going to have to work that much harder to overcome a bad first impression. Recognizing we’re on stage that early gives us a chance to show them right away what it will be like to do business with us.
It’s easy to forget how often you’re on stage. You can work hard in high school and spend a lot of time on your college applications. But if your email reply to your college interviewer is full of grammatical and spelling errors, you’re off to a bad interview start. You took the stage at the beginning of that interaction.
If you plead with your teacher for extra credit to raise your grade, but you’ve been goofing off in class all semester, you haven’t been delivering good performances with your stage time.
If you ask your counselor for a letter of recommendation at the last minute, but you’ve missed every meeting and deadline her office posted in the months leading up to application season, your past stage performance is going to affect her ability to help you today.
You’re on stage all the time. So don’t save your best performances for the big night—bring them out right now. Treat people well. Behave in a way you can be proud of. Thank people who help you. Apologize when you hurt someone. Offer to pitch in and help. Not because you need or want something, but because it’s who you want to be. Don’t wait to give your best performance. You’re already on stage.