1. When in charge, ponder. 2. When in trouble, delegate. 3. When in doubt, mumble.
Winston Churchill once said,
If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time – a tremendous whack.
A 1972 price tag
In 1972 I stumbled onto a terrifically dry, witty book by James Boren, When In Doubt, Mumble. Dry. Witty. Funny. I instantly liked it and it’s among many books I’ve held onto for a long time.
As a lifelong student of communication, Boren’s message resonated with me, especially within a few years after it was released. America had a small scandal called Watergate that resulted in congressional hearings. I admit it was my first foray into congressional hearings and the mumbling that goes in our nation’s capital.
Prior to that I just thought Boren was a funny guy mocking the bureaucrats. I had no idea he either taught the master class in mumbling or he was just so incredibly observant as to capture the true essence of it. It was remarkable communication and I was fascinated at the skill required to talk for so long – many of these hearings went on for months and years – and say absolutely nothing. Most congressional hearings accomplished even less — a feat that defies logic and the laws of science. Our government is truly extraordinary!
This week, as the United States government went on hiatus, I started thinking about Boren’s book again. Naturally, that sparked thoughts about our communication skills and styles. Which, in turn, sparks today’s podcast.
I love the Elvis song, but picking up chicks isn’t quite what I’ve got in mind today. Or any other day for that matter. I’m happily married.
How do you feel about these topics?
• Work flow
• Systems
• Processes
• Schedules
• Calendars
• Deadlines
• Standard Operating Procedures
I confess. Some days I embrace and love all these things. Other days, they plum evade me!
For me, it comes and goes in spurts. Some spurts last a long time. Others, not so much.
This week I had some big technology challenges – most notably Internet issues thanks to my ISP (Internet service provider). Since my wife and I both work from home offices and our work relies heavily on the Internet, it wasn’t a terribly productive week. Even when the Internet issues were repaired, I found myself completely discombobulated due to the disruption.
Does that ever happen to you? I imagine it happens to everybody.
It’s not a good sign when you start out a week having to cancel some online appointments. Things went downhill from there.
Oh, I was busy. But I wasn’t productive. So yesterday I Tweeted a message to help myself try to get back on track and salvage what’s left of the week.
I’m not busy but I’m productive.
No, it wasn’t a statement (Tweet) of fact. It was a statement (Tweet) of what I needed to do. I needed to stop being busy and start being productive.
That’s when Elvis entered my head singing, “A little less talk, a little action please!”
But, too much talk isn’t the cause of my current failures. It’s a confluence of factors that have converged on me in recent days. It happens.
Unexpected things. Expected things. Things just come up and knock our wheels off, making it hard to keep going down the track.
I admit it. Those are just excuses. Good ones, but still excuses!
I need to be more disciplined. That’s what the Elvis song means to me today. I need to get my butt in gear and start making meaningful progress. I need to stop talking, stalling and putting things off. It’s time to dive in and get after it.
You can chase getting things done, or you can let your work chase you! I’d rather chase than be chased.
Here are some things I’ve going to resolve to do:
– Release the podcast on a specific day of the week at a precise time. No, I’ve not settled on exactly when yet – but I’m working on it.
– Create an editorial schedule, too. I write a lot. Every day. I just don’t post a lot. I’d like to publish one post a week.
– Get back to my block scheduling – something I’ve almost always done, but I’ll allowed it to slip this year. And I can’t explain why. It just happened. Proof that if you don’t pay attention, things don’t improve.
– I’m almost always creating work flow, schedules, processes and systems for clients. It time for the cobbler to build himself some shoes.
– I’m getting back into chase mode. I’m always in chase mode when it comes to business, but I’ve allowed the work to chase me lately. I don’t enjoy being chased by work. I’d much rather do the chasing and hunt it down, tackle it and get it in a choke hold. So WORK, you’d better start running ’cause I’m coming. And I’m armed and dangerous.
“Eighty percent of success is showing up.”
– Woody Allen
It’s the Pareto principle. Everywhere you look it turns up. The 80/20 rule. Wait a minute, what?
If 80% of success is showing up, does that mean we just need to show up 20% of the time? That’s about right. Seems like lately I’ve had about a 20% chance of getting service – of any kind. Twenty percent chance of getting an email returned. Or a phone call returned. Nah, wait a minute. That’s high.
If 80% of success is showing up, does that mean 20% of the people are succeeding? Maybe that’s right. But wait a minute. That means 80% are failing. Seems high, doesn’t it? Then again, I guess it depends on how you define “success.” Maybe 80% of us are failing. That would explain our level of misery and dissatisfaction.
If 80% of success is showing up, then what makes up the missing 20%? Yeah, that’s what I want to know. I know how to show up. I’m interested in what I’m missing – other than showing up.
And once again, I’m hit in the forehead with professor Sutton’s seminal work in The Knowing-Doing Gap. If people know they have to show up to succeed…well, to be fair, if they know 80% of success is determined merely by showing up, then why don’t they? Show up, that is.
They know it, but they don’t do it. See, it’s that infamous gap that continues to plague us. We’re so busy chasing our tail to learn stuff we don’t know while the stuff we do know goes UNdone. Makes no sense, but it happens all the time.
The sad thing is, you’re not even up to the Sucking Level yet.
Yep, I’ve expressed that to business owners before. And salespeople. And waiters or waitresses. And store clerks.
“Man, you grumpy old man,” you must be thinking. And I am, in some ways, but I’m not hateful. Intolerant of poor service? You bet. I’ve never had a stomach for it – the curse of starting a career in sales when I was 16.
People have too many options. Getting customers is too hard. Helping people make a decision to buy from you is tough work. This business stuff isn’t as easy as falling off a log. Then again, I wouldn’t know, having never fallen off a log. Doesn’t seem pleasant to me. Or easy, for that matter.
Let me tell you two stories of my recent experiences. The stories stem from a quote I read back during the inflationary years of the late 1970’s when I was in the early years of my business career. People were fighting hard for business. In one of the business magazines of the day I remember reading a quote by a lady management consultant who said, “We’d all buy a lot more if we could just get waited on.” It’s been almost 40 years since I first read it. I think of it almost weekly – every time I encounter poor service.
Disclaimer: I admit I may have a superior expectation when it comes to customer service. Not high maintenance kind of stuff. Not ordering off the menu type of stuff. Just solid, “do what you’re supposed to” kind of behavior. It’s shocking how difficult it is for some people to just show up.
• Salespeople, get a cell phone from your company. If they won’t buy you one, use your personal phone. Do not trust the switchboard at the office. Don’t assume the voicemail at the office works. Be available when prospects or customers need you. And if you’re not available when they need you, at least give them the chance to leave a message directly with you, knowing you’ll get it.
• Call people back promptly. Not all calls need a fast response, but some do. Return phone calls based on the promptness required. Without exception!
• Use email. Push it to and from your smart phone. Be available via email because many of your customers prefer it over the phone. Besides, you can reply quickly and set a more precise expectation. “I got your message. I’m in a meeting for the next 2 hours, but I’ll be back in touch by 4pm today.” Two sentences tells me all I need to know as a prospect or customer. Now I can move on with my life ’cause I know you’ve got the ball and I’m going to expect to hear from you before 4pm today.
• Give me the rules of the road and it’s likely I’ll comply with them – and be happy in the process.
Whether it’s on the phone, via email or in person – 80% of success is showing up, but it’s showing up on time, prepared and doing what you’re supposed to. There’s a lot to showing up. Most – that’s right, I said, “MOST” – can’t or won’t do it. I’ve got a lifetime of business experience and I can attest to the fact of my statement. It’s just not that hard to show up your competition because no matter what space or industry you’re in – most of your competition is barely able to answer the phone before the 5th ring. And if they pass that test, most of them won’t be able to call you back within 4 hours. Nobody will call you “right back.”
You don’t have to go back to school. You don’t need any high dollar training or consulting. You need to get your act together and start acting like you want and need the business. You need to let prospects see how much you appreciate their attention. You do that by being there to serve them when they’re ready.
