Beware the ‘contradictions’ that lead to failure and derision…

I first began to observe and note contradictions made by companies when a senior manager gave me his business card at the beginning of a meeting. He said ‘That’s my last card John, and not only does it have my contact details, it also features our seven values on the reverse side…which all of our staff must remember and operate by. The ‘values’ included integrity and respect, helping each other, relentless improvement, etc. I thanked him and our conversation continued, and a few minutes later I asked him which of the seven values were the most challenging at that time. He seemed to think for a moment and then said ‘Can I have the card back for a moment please?’ In the years since that pathetic episode I have been a customer of businesses that proudly display ‘vision’ and ‘mission’ statements for customers to see, and then experienced service that was the exact opposite of what the ‘statements’ promised! And by the way, where are all the vision and mission statements today? Have they gone out of fashion? I hope so, because such posturing by organizations is a waste of time and money, plus it almost always leads to staff laughing at management’s efforts at affectation…especially when they realise that their ‘statements’ are almost identical to those of other companies! Here are 10 contradictions worth noting and avoiding:

• Companies spend money and time designing the company website, or the retail store…and very little time or money training sales and service staff

• Most suppliers are looking for new customers, but most customers are not looking for new suppliers…because the majority of aspiring new suppliers have nothing new and better to offer

• Managers repeatedly tell their staff not to ‘sell on price’…and then boast to all and sundry that they have screwed their suppliers to get lower prices

• Customers want more productivity…but most suppliers just sell more products

• Most sales reps and telephone sales people try to build rapport first and then try to make a sale…while customers want to hear first about opportunities, and as they receive valuable ideas they naturally feel more rapport with the sales person

• Managers rightly set budgets for what the sales team must ‘get’ in revenues…and then neglect to set standards of conduct relating to what sales people must “give” to customers, which is the primary factor in achieving budgets

• Companies always know what customers buy…but they don’t know how much more customers could buy if they used or resold products more effectively

• Managers advise sales staff to adopt better attitudes, also to work harder, to set goals and help customers more…but then continue to employ staff that consistently fail to take the advice, which sends a clear message to staff about management’s true standards

• Companies pay staff salaries and wages to produce expected results…but fail to offer bonuses and incentives to encourage staff to produce at levels far beyond expected performance

• Organizations spend vast amounts of money on conferences that staff enjoy for one or two days…and then spend very little on dietary training to help staff enjoy the whole year, by teaching them how to produce good results for 12 months

Obviously, it is much easier to promise more to markets than to deliver more, and yet it is the delivery factor that counts most to customers. Perhaps the largest contradiction is when business people work harder at the promise than they do on the delivery, and usually spend more in the process.

Perhaps the most important contradiction to avoid is thinking that service is important to customers, because it isn’t. Customers care far more about results, which explains why most of us ‘put up with’ tradespeople and their awful service. Service is an obligation, selling new results is a major opportunity!