I had a frustrating evening. My mom has a very old Iphone. She wanted to get some new apps, but was struggling to get them on her phone. Normally, she can install these apps with no problems, but she needed help. I found the apps in the App store, clicked on “Get” and nothing happened.
Eventually, I figured it out. She was on IOS 13 (she has a very old phone) and the apps needed a minimum of IOS 15. As I was trying to fix her phone, she was looking at mine. “Why does your lock screen look so different, can I do that?” Turns out I couldn’t upgrade the operating system on that phone—a new phone will be delivered tomorrow.
All of us have similar technology stories we have an older version of an app or operating system, to get the function we need for the latest greatest things, we have to upgrade to the current version. (Ideally a simple upgrade and not needing to buy a new device.)
With that as an analogy, I see the same thing with sellers (and too many leaders). The way they work is from an out of date version of selling. These methods worked back then, but not so well today. Too many sellers and leaders seem to be stuck in a V1.0 world, but things have changed. How customers want to be engaged has changed profoundly. The methods, tools, processes have changed dramatically. The problems they and we face are profoundly different.
Our version 3.7 world, is profoundly different…..
- The rate of change/disruption continues to accelerate at a rate that we (our customers and us) struggle to make sense of.
- Where in the past, our customers may have struggled to find the information, today they are overwhelmed. Today they struggle with, “What is important for us to pay attention to?”
- More people are involved in the buying process. Aligning diverse priorities/interests is a challenge.
- We get work done differently. We have hybrid work environments, many WFH, others involved in buying are scattered around the world.
- Customers are overwhelmed with choice, there are many more alternatives/solutions from which to choose.
- We, all of us, are increasingly distracted by many things both at work and outside work.
- New technology and tools offer such great possibility and such great threat.
- The economy is, perhaps, more confusing than the past. It is robust yet there are concerns.
- What it means to be an employee has changed. So many jobs seem to be “temp” jobs–whether by the employee’s or management choice.
- Engagement, both employee and customer, is declining.
- Sales performance is declining.
- Response to outreach seem non-existent. We struggle with “catching” the attention of the customer.
- and on and on and on…….
We live in a V3.7 world, yet we are using V1.0 approaches to deal with it. Our old approaches work, but not nearly as well as they used to. And for those that have upgraded their approaches to leading the organization and sellers who have upgraded their approaches to V3.7, they are producing far more than those running older versions. While we may have technology that provide the potential for us to do more, if we have V1.0 approaches underlying our use of those technologies, we end up creating crap at the speed of light.
Doing things the way we have always done them, in a VUCA world is a sure prescription of underachieving our potential. We have to adapt and meet our people and customers where they are at now.
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