Batten The Hatches
Who saw this coming? Actually, I know the answer, but I still feel compelled to ask the question. Nobody could talk about the impending financial crisis until it finally became a reality otherwise the forecast of it happening would have sped up its arrival. It still feels strange that this came about at the speed it hit us.
So, now what do we do? We suspect there is a storm ahead so we pull back and spend as cautiously as we can. The collective pulling back seals the deal and we have a self-fulfilling prophesy in the making.
Out at sea when the storm rolls in, the tendency is to tie everything down, close everything up, and ride out the weather. But, the batten-the-hatches approach to your CRM program can be exactly the wrong thing to do. Back during the Great Depression, a notable office machines company took a different approach than everyone else. Rather than laying off the salesforce since nobody was going to buy a typewriter during such a bad financial situation, they actually expanded their salesforce in order to increase the chances of finding buyers.
This company did not just ride out the storm, it surfed the waves that the storm whipped up. When you tie everything down and shut every opening on the boat, you can no longer fish. CRM is about fishing on steroids. Don’t cut the budget for your CRM program. Don’t scale back the training for SFA. Don’t kill the funding for that campaign automation. These are the exact things you need right now.
It is easy to watch cable news because I spend so much time in hotel rooms – the TV is the portal outside my little home away from home. Right now I keep hearing and seeing the word fear to describe what is going on with the markets and the traders. The thinking is that fear as an emotion is going to drive what happens next.
What I know about fear comes from years spent as an alpine skiing instructor. When a skier, at the top of a bumpy slope lined with aspens, looks down the hill and experiences fear, the next thing that happens is going to be a yard sale. Goggles, mittens, skis, hats, poles, and granola bars are going to be spread all over the moguls in the wake of a skier on the way toward an appointment with a tree.
Don’t let fear drive your CRM program governance. Keep on the course toward your targeted outcomes. Pulling back now will ensure that you hit the tree. Don’t tie everything down just to get through the rough seas – you have to keep fishing. If your competition keeps fishing while you are battened down, they are going to end up with your catch.
