Both we and our customers struggle with change. Think, for a moment, how many times you may have said, or you’ve heard within your organization or from your customers:
“But we’ve always done things this way…….”
“If it ain’t broke……”
We live in business and personal worlds characterized by turbulence and change. Clinging to the things we’ve always done forces us to stay stuck in the past.
Ironically, we are working harder than ever before. We are putting in longer hours, we are constantly increasing volumes–more calls, more prospecting, more deals, bigger pipelines. We are doing more of what we’ve always done, perhaps amplified with a layer of technology, yet the results we seek, evade us.
What worked in the past is no longer working, at least it isn’t producing results at the level that we need.
As we wind up the year, looking into the new year, it’s critical to re-assess everything that we do. If it isn’t producing results, why continue? If we aren’t engaging our customers in a way that resonates with them, then what do we need to do? If our people aren’t performing, then how do we help improve their performance?
These questions aren’t unanswerable. We know there are solutions, there is ample evidence that becoming customer focused, creating value in every interaction works. There is ample evidence that discipline, focus, and process works. We know putting the right people in the right jobs, coaching and developing them works. We know we must be constantly learning.
We know it takes work, it’s challenging, sometimes frightening.
But the alternative is unacceptable.
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