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Be
More Creative By Thinking Slowly
Selling
& CRM implementations can learn a lot from
Monty Python Star
Recently
I attended the ICCM (International Call Center
Managers) conference here in Las Vegas. The focus
of this show is to help call center professionals
develop customer-focused business processes and
“bolster” professional success. ICCM
attracts thousands of professionals annually and
provides an opportunity for them to network with
the world's leading organizations while actively
looking for products and solutions to drive
revenue and increase efficiency.
Like
most conferences and expos, this event was
organized into tracks, namely – People
Management, Operations Management, Business
Planning and Customer Service. What impressed me
the most was the way they developed a theme around
these tracks. They called it, “The 5 D’s”
which stood for: Define, Design, Develop, Deliver
and Discover. The first day was focused on
Defining your problems and Designing solutions to
those problems. Day two’s topics focused on
Developing the solutions and Delivering the
results to your organization. Finally, day three
focused on Discovering the results of the solution
and its implementation in order to measure the
outcome. All the tracks and sessions fit into this
theme, which was very well done.
I
personally related to this sort of organization
since it’s aligned with the strategies I
recommended in my first book, CRM For The
Common Man (see www.PeakSalesConsulting.com/CRM_Book.htm),
for planning your CRM implementation. Before doing
anything, you first must define your problem, then
design your solution. It’s the same as building
a house – regardless what tools you may have or
will get, you still need an architect’s plan
before you begin. Yes, this show was well
organized and on track for providing good, solid
advice and education for the attendees.
The
Keynote speaker for ICCM was John Cleese. Yes,
thee John Cleese of Monty Python fame. Mr. Cleese
is a world-renown comedian, actor and, yes,
business lecturer. I wasn’t sure what to expect.
I didn’t know if I was going to hear a stand-up
routine or see a skit from Faulty Towers. What I
did hear was an extremely informative and
insightful speech on the importance of innovation,
creativity and communication, delivered to several
hundred customer contact center professionals in a
very humorous fashion.
Mr.
Cleese had some very perceptive and profound
thoughts on creativity and thinking. His speech
concentrated on our ability to be creative by
thinking more slowly. Research has shown that
creativity is not related to intelligence. But that
is counter-cultural to what we call “thinking”
because we must always “look” busy and not get
caught staring out the window day-dreaming.
Slowing down to think and ponder is not what we
are used to nor something we are comfortable with.
Our natural instinct is to quickly analyze a
problem and solve it analytically and logically.
This is typically a result of being under pressure
or stress, but it doesn’t always yield the best
solution.
The
following is an excerpt from Mr. Cleese’s
presentation on creativity entitled, “Hare
Brain, Tortoise Mind”:
“If you’re going to focus on identifying ways to improve
customer service and workforce performance to have
a real and measurable impact on your
organization’s bottom line in this current,
fast-paced environment, you’re going to need a
‘Do Not Disturb’ sign; because the thing that
we human-beings are worst at, is tuning out all
the urgent and often squeaky wheels going on
around us to engage in what others may view as
self-indulgent quiet time. It’s a highly
creative thing to be able to do, and you can’t
do it while you’re dashing around, hurried and
anxious, because all your old automatic thought
patterns will get in the way.”
By
taking our time and pondering a problem and
thinking it over, we will often yield a more creative
solution. More complex problems actually benefit
the most from slow, creative thinking. Have you
ever “slept” on a problem and the next morning
found a really creative and good solution? Of
course you have. This is what Mr. Cleese was
talking about. Note that this doesn’t require
thinking harder, just more slowly. You have to
give yourself time to think slowly. Both types of
thinking are needed, however, depending on the
type of problem you are working on. In fact,
usually when we come up with a solution slowly and
intuitively, we then validate it with more logical
and rapid thinking. But remember, unconscious gut
feelings don’t always have to have a logical
explanation. Sometimes we just “feel” that
this is the right answer.
So,
when a customer says, “I have to think it
over,” this may have some validity. Just make
sure you keep them on track and don’t let them
think it over forever. And, for your next CRM implementation, slow down, think and
plan.
Good
luck and good selling!
Russ
Lombardo
PEAK
Sales Consulting
russ@peaksalesconsulting.com
(702)
655-5652
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