A loved one in sales
was told on Monday
that the department’s clients
were being reassigned.
They would now be arranged
by the size of the customer
instead of the industry they were in.
My loved one almost quit.
One of his co-workers,
a sales superstar,
DID quit.
They were under stress
due to the crisis
around us
and management,
likely because they were bored,
decided to rearrange things
‘just because.’
They didn’t think about
how the salespeople
couldn’t have face-to-face meetings
and lunches
and other relationship building events
with their new clients.
They didn’t think about
how the clients
were looking for continuity
in their lives,
how they didn’t want to
spend time
evaluating and getting to know
new salespeople.
The management team
had some extra time
so they decided to tinker
with a system that was working.
I understand that impulse.
Most business builders
are accustomed to working hard,
to filling every spare moment
with tasks.
Due to the crisis,
many of us are working from home.
We have extra time
because we’re not commuting
and because we’re not physically moving
from meeting to meeting.
We’re tempted
to use that extra time
by tinkering
with existing working systems.
Resist that temptation.
WE might have extra time.
Our employees and partners
might be extremely busy.
Employees and partners
are also likely to be
severely stressed
and the ‘small’ change
we’re suggesting
might be the very thing
to break them.
Plus many of us
don’t yet know
what the world will look like
three months from now.
The system we’re tinkering with,
that we’re adding stress
to others
by changing
might not be applicable.
There are plenty of other tasks
we can accomplish.
Don’t make unnecessary changes
to systems
that are working.