We were up in Cairns a month or two ago and took the opportunity to take ferry trip outgo one of the islands.

As we boarded we paused in front of the boat’s life saving rings to have our photo taken by one of the team. “Smile,” she said as she snapped us.

I’d forgotten all about it until, on our return trip, the photographer came to sell us our photo (which we bought incidentally).

Once she had finished her sales efforts, she was relaxing near us. Being curious I thought it was time for some research. So, after a few preliminaries, I asked two questions.

1. Did she find that her attitude affected her sales?
2. Would she sell more photos if she was on a share of sales rather than an hourly rate?

Her answers to both questions were an unequivocal “Yes, hugely!”

If she was down or just plain disinterested her sales were off by up to 30% she had found. When she was on top of the world she reckoned she was bulletproof and sold everyone.

If the boss had shown his gratitude and offered her a percentage of what she sold she reckoned she’d sell heaps more, probably double. As it was, nobody really cared what she sold so neither did she.

The lessons:

1. Your attitude affects your outcomes. Be positive, enthusiastic (and maybe even fantastic!) and results will soar.
2. What gets rewarded gets results. Share success around and it’ll work gangbusters.

How can you apply make attitude and gratitude work for you, your team and your business?