Lessons in engagement from Walmart

Want to learn how to engage people in ten seconds or less? Then head to Walmart and go through Jason Stone’s checkout line.

He’ll smile as you approach. He’ll say hello as he begins scanning your items. Then you’ll hear something different: “May I ask you the question of the day?”

It might be this: What weakness do you want to turn into a strength?

Or this: What has been your greatest adventure?

Or this: What do you miss most from when you were younger?

Jason arrives at work each day with a new question. He keeps it simple, brief, and relevant to all. As customers pass through his line, he kindly asks — and always gets a response.

Some people look up in surprise. Sometimes they ask him to repeat the question. Nearly everyone gives a thoughtful answer and ends up chatting with the world’s most inquisitive cashier.

Many of the Walmart customers are Jason Stone fans who look for him when they’re ready to check out. They want the question along with the friendly conversation that goes with it.

“It’s amazing what a question can do,” Jason says. “Questions are a great way to break the ice and to build relationships. People want to connect. They get excited.”

Jason is 25 years old, with a wiry build, long sideburns, and a free-form hairstyle that defies gravity. When he talks, it’s always with passion, and his hands fly around as if they’re trying to grab extra words.

He began his Walmart job at age 17, working his way through an associate’s degree from Columbus State Community College in Ohio. Now he’s half a year away from earning bachelor’s degrees in special education and psychology from Ohio State University.

Working the register can be “mundane,” Jason says, but he admits to loving the job. He sees it as more than just ringing up purchases. “I get paid to talk with people. It’s amazing.”

Jason has made countless friends in the process. One time, a group of curious young adults came through his line, eager to meet the question guy. They got to talking, they exchanged contact information, and one thing led to another. Jason ended up joining them on a house-building mission trip to Mexico.

Another time, two women came through his line speaking a foreign language. The younger one knew English, so Jason directed his question to her: “If you were meeting someone new, and you could instantly have them know one thing about you, what would it be?”

She translated the question for her friend, then she translated the response for Jason. The older woman wanted him to know that she had arrived from Iraq just two days earlier. Her husband had died in the war. Jason listened and nodded, offering his sympathy and welcoming her to the United States.

Jason’s co-workers know all about his question of the day. When he arrives at work, they ask him what he’ll be asking as his shift unfolds. Some of the cashiers at other stores are following his lead and asking their own conversation-starting questions.

Come to think of it, we can all follow his lead.

So let me ask you a question: What question will you be asking today to engage the people who pass through your life?