Symptoms:
Cliff was surprised. He assured the customer how things would work out and, when the customer disagreed, he told him again. And again, and again. Then his manager got an angry phone call asking Cliff not be sent back into the account because the client didn't see any way for him to handle their account to their satisfaction. Cliff was indignant. Didn't the client understand that Cliff was the expert and knew best what the client really wanted and needed?
Just like many out there, Growth Dynamics has been impacted by the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Symptoms:
Alice was at her wit's end. After three months of hard work, moving step by step towards the final decision, the sales process was stuck. She had worked the system well but had failed to get either a “Yes” or a “No” while she was in front of the prospect. Now her calls were not being returned by the client. Alice had put too much work into the account to walk away, and she was smart enough to know that the selling isn't over until she says it's over. However, she was uncertain how to proceed if she couldn't find out what was going on behind the scenes at the account.
We want to take a moment to share our thanks and appreciation to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect our country, our freedoms and our beliefs.
I have been negligent this past week about creating a Positive Moment post. The thick of thin things seemed to capture me and overcome my commitment for some reason. Maybe it was the pressure of coming up with an idea or analogy every single day that finally took me down. I just know I could not find the focus to sit and type.
Another short message today as I have had two of my favorite people connect with me and catch up.
Well, we have all been dealing with this pandemic situation for about 50 days now, and I know we are all going crazy with the varying degrees of self-isolation. It does suck, and it is OK to go ahead and admit it. There is nothing like being free to go where you want to go when you want to go, and most of us never realized it until we could not exercise that freedom. But here we all are, still existing in this state of uncertainty and not knowing when the world will be less scary or intimidating.
Joe teed up a nice little order at one of his smaller accounts. It wasn't a make or break type of deal, but it created some additional opportunities to expand the product mix and make a lesser account more profitable. In an effort to keep his sale on track, Joe emailed the customer to confirm his appointment for a week later and mentioned that he thought this should be a decision meeting on the product program he was offering. Within hours, Joe's appointment was confirmed, but to his dismay the owner stated that his decision would be made on his timeline and not Joe's. After reading the reply, Joe felt conflicted: should he drive an hour and a half to do nothing more than hear a “think-it-over”, or should he cancel the appointment and tell the prospect to let him know when he was ready to decide?
At times, my tendency to be impulsive has brought me exciting surprises. I have stumbled across great restaurants or roadside wonders that I couldn't have planned to find. I just turned a corner, continued down the road and was rewarded with a gem of an experience. Sometimes the opposite has happened, resulting in wasted time or a totally, useless purchase ending up in my closet or garage. When I look at those misbegotten objects, I shake my head and wonder what I must have been thinking when I decided to grab that dust collector. No plan or goal, just an illogical decision, the list would be embarrassing if I ever wrote it out and shared with people.
