This month’s blog and newsletter topic is “Can you manage by hope?” In these confusing times, if you and your company run without analysis, prediction and planning, you’re managing by hope.
Interestingly, when a business is operating in such a fashion, not much action is required.
What Hope Looks Like
A friend of mine, a freelance business writer, was once invited down to a local company to possibly establish a business relationship. My friend had, a few years before, utilized the services of this company and found it quite competent, so thought it might be a worthwhile thing to do.
When he got there, he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. People were kind of lazing around, not doing much of anything. Many of the employees he observed appeared to not know what they were doing, or even understand why they were there. There was an atmosphere of confusion and almost fear.
My friend then went in to meet the manager, someone he didn’t know. Before they began talking, a woman came in and asked for the following day off to handle a personal issue. The manager said, “Sure.”
My friend was baffled. He knew this company had been highly successful in the past. How could it possibly be doing well and yet functioning this way? His answer came shortly when the manager told him that the company had recently been sold, and he (the manager) had been hired and given a substantial budget to get the company reorganized, and staff hired.
My friend then understood why he didn’t recognize any of the current staff. They were all new.
It was then obvious to my friend that the money invested to restart the company was just being wasted—there was no clear plan or strategy. He felt sorry for the investor or investors (to be fair, though, they should have been observing for themselves, but that’s another story).
The bottom line? They were sitting around, hoping to survive on the already established business relationships or just hoping new business would come walking through the door. They were taking no action to make the company run.
Needless to say, the business shut down in a matter of weeks.
What a Goal-Oriented Company Looks Like
You can probably recall for yourself the last time you walked into a company that was doing well. They were busy! Salespeople were excitedly talking on the phone. Others were zipping around. Generally, the place was cheerful, and some were even joking around while, at the same time, accomplishing a great deal of work.
This company is not sitting around engaging in “hope.”
Clearly, they have conducted detailed analyses so that they understand their market and how they need to proceed. With that analysis, they can accurately predict where their market is headed and how their prospects and customers will respond to the company’s offerings. They have engaged in planning that will act as a straight road to achieving the company’s goals.
For any business operating mainly on hope, the answer is to restore a company’s goals, refocus everyone on the company’s purpose and direction and get into action once again!
To learn more, sign up at SELLability.com.
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