Wednesday, May 24  

Oh My God..........I Could Be Gay!

Oh My God..........I Could Be Gay!

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

But I never even knew. But the facts kind of speak for themselves, so perhaps I should have.......

Fact # 1: My first job: Trainee Male Nurse.

Finished my 3 years hospital training and became a ......Nursing Sister (yep, that was my official title, even though I didn't look like anyone's "Sister").

Fact # 2: My best friend, a guy, was..... a hairdresser.

When I was working as a nurse/sister I was asked often (4-5 times a week) by patients if I was gay.

Not in a roundabout way, but like this: "So Brendon, tell me. Are you gay?"

And just yesterday, when someone I know found out I was a Nursing Sister and my best mate was a hairdresser he put 2 + 2 together and made the big (and wrong) assumption.


Assumptions, Stereotypes & Prejudices

All of us have preconceived notions. We jump to instant assessments. There are millions of stereotypes attached to all sort of actions, behaviours, jobs, accents, etc......even speech impediments.

C'mon, which of those amongst you reading this, when you hear a guy lisp think "Gay."

It's a speech impediment and for some weird reason a lot of people assume "gay" as soon as they hear it.


What This Means When You're Marketing Your Business

What this means for businesspeople marketing there business is this: people make assumptions, people have crazy and illogical stereotypes.

Everything matters because everything says something to your customer.

• People will assume the quality of your service is poor if you dress really badly.
• People will think you're meaner if you have long hair, no teeth and tattoos.
• Others might assume that a woman is more caring than a guy (I was a very caring nurse I'll have you know!).

So What To Do To Get Your Message/The Truth Known

It's all about consistency.

First impressions are critical, but they can be overcome. By education, by communication and by the consistent application of behaviour that reinforces your key message.

Reinforce, reinforce and reinforce. And the message gets through. That's marketing.

You don't need to change, or be untrue. You have to take these into consideration. But mostly, just consistent to get your message across.

And sure, like the 'Steps' blog example below, it's a pity people jump to these assumptions but they do.

But all you can do is present the behaviour to get your message across (or in my case when patients asked me if I was gay, by me saying "Well, let me go out with you daughter and we'll get her to tell you!").

Cheers

Sister Sinclair,
State Registered Nurse,
Training Hospital: St Johns Hospital
Hobart, Tasmania