Growth Dynamics Get Down

Symptoms:

Abby prided herself on the level of customer service she delivered after the sale, and loved the loyalty her customers expressed to her. That loyalty also had a troubling side and it was beginning to show. She was having some problems in her territory and as customer base grew, so did the problems. Because of her history of being so responsive to their every need, many of Abby’s customers became dependent upon her and began asking her to do things not normally her responsibility. When she didn’t have time to deliver on these extra requests, Abby felt bad about failing her customers and they, in turn, began to express some dissatisfaction. Abby could see years of her good work in developing her territory slowly starting to unravel before her. Her best efforts were turning into the source of her biggest problems.

Symptoms:

Bill and Pat were returning from their monthly poker game and while riding back in the car they both agreed they had witnessed a situation that they could apply as a "lesson learned" to their business careers. Everything had started out very similar to an everyday business meeting or sales call with socializing and normal banter between participants, but about half way through the event something had gone bad.

A simple mistake had been made that resulted in some subtle and not so subtle accusations leading to lines being drawn about who was right and who was wrong. All of a sudden everyone was very uncomfortable with the tone in the room.

The "accused" had snapped back with a defense based on fairness and leniency (not results) that almost guaranteed a confrontation between the two sides. The emotions ranged from excuse making to embarrassment to anger and then to withdrawal and alienation as the aggressors piled on the wrong-doers. When the game broke up early, everyone knew it had been caused by too much bad behavior.

Symptoms:

James was feeling discouraged and wasn't sure how he could make it through another week like he had last week. A new prospect had made him wait over 30 minutes before he would see him, and then asked James to sell to him at his cost. Another client had told him he was backing out of a deal they had just made 2 days before, and that the reasons for the change were none of his business. This wasn't the first time that people had treated him this way and he was beginning to wonder just how much he had to grovel before he could do business with folks like this.

Yes, you read that right. Ditch the To Do List in 2021. Seriously, those anchors of personal productivity are more trouble than they are worth. The intentions are all good, and the trusty old To Do List is better than nothing, but honestly, they are not worth the hundreds of tablets you have them written on. Do yourself a favor and stop creating To Do Lists.

On Thursday at 5 pm EST Charlie Hauck, owner of Growth Dynamics, will be joining Jenna Arnold on her Instagram Live session to discuss the importance of having critical conversations. 

There is one constant in life- change. 

The last few months have certainly been interesting. Charlie and I have seen ourselves thrive in some aspects, but also face a little burnout in others. We think the same can be said for many of the people we interact with regularly. 

Symptoms:

Donna hated feeling like this. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t figure out what she was supposed to do when she got back to the office after being out for a couple of days making calls on new prospects and checking up on some existing clients. Her to do list had a bunch of things scribbled on it, but Donna didn’t know which items were most important or when the people she had been talking to were expecting her to follow up.

As I’ve gotten older my appetite for following sports has waned considerably. I still have favorite teams that I follow although not as fervently as I did at a younger age. Watching a good pro or college football or basketball game on TV keeps my attention most of the time, but I don’t think about the scores or the players much beyond the final buzzer. I view it as strictly entertainment only with little or no impact on my life or my concern.