One of the aspects I’ve noticed the longer I’ve been blogging is that I’ve developed a sincere appreciation for the work of others. After years of trying to find just the right analogy or insightful phrasing to connect what’s in my mind with what’s on your screen, it really impacts me when someone truly captures an essential point we should all consider.
I want to share a post with you from Steven Kovar. I was introduced to it by my social media friend, Mike Cane, and I’ve read Kovar’s message several times because it is so compelling. (And, of course, it’s why I wanted to share it with you.)
In this true story, Bill is a field technician for TimeWarner Cable…but, he could really be any employee of any organization…even yours.
And, while I believe that no business — including any cable television company — really wants its customers to be discouraged with their treatment, the fact is that policies and procedures often create unintended consequences that ensure we are.
Read Steven’s excellent post. And, perhaps even more important, ask yourself if you have destined your frontline people to deliver less to your customers than either of them would desire.
Here’s the link to the post: CLICK HERE And, please let me know what you think.
Social media connections raise productivity…
At a meeting recently, another speaker was relating to the audience that a client of his had mentioned that their company was “losing sales to the Internet.”
The speaker’s pithy response was, “Yes, you ARE losing sales to the Internet. Your sales people are sitting on the butts playing on Facebook and Twitter rather than closing your prospects.”
As the MediaPost.com blog from Erik Sass states, “Warwick business prof Joe Nandhakumar summed up the results: ‘We found that the ubiquitous digital connectivity altered workers’ sense of ‘presence’ and helped rather than hindered the effective completion of collective tasks.‘
“He added: ‘Ubiquitous digital connectivity should be seen not as an unwelcome interruption but as part of the changing nature of knowledge work itself that needs to become part of normal, everyday practices of contemporary organisations.’” (emphasis mine)
And, from my perspective, it’s easy to take this to another logical level: If your sales team is using social media to connect with, respond to the concerns of, and serve customers better…their productivity can be enhanced, as well.
In other words, it’s easy for those of us who have been around for a while to dismiss social media as “sitting on butts, playing on Facebook and Twitter.” And, as we do that…those who use it effectively are selling and serving at a higher level.
I’ll bet when they were first installed, our sales ancestors made fun of those who used the telephone to connect with customers, too. Don’t you?
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