Don't Sweat the Details
True story: My great grandmother Davis was bed-ridden in her later years. Knowing that she loved hot tea, one of her six-year-old granddaughters decided to do something nice for “Granny” by preparing her a cup of tea. She boiled up a pot of tea just like she had seen her mom do and took it to Granny who was completely delighted. Granny was a stickler for detail and noted that her granddaughter had even strained the tea. This was back before the convenience of tea-bags reached the mountains in North Carolina.
Granny sipped at her tea and asked, “Why dear, what did you use to strain out the tea leaves?”
“The fly swatter.”
Gasp…
“Don’t worry Granny. I didn’t use the new one…”
Details and process while a pain are important things. Not many sales people like details and process. We typically want to present to the customer, close the deal, then it is off to the next customer.
I think this story illustrates a couple of things. While we may have the right motivation, the right solution, and even the diligence to get it done, we still need to know the right process and have the discipline and patience to ask questions when we don't fully know all the steps. I could not begin to number the times that we have a proposal due today or tomorrow or that we have already submitted to the customer and then we realize there was an important step left out or done incorrectly. Then with our hair on fire, we demand that others drop all they are doing to address our issue.
What is the practical lesson here? I think it is this: we need to have the wisdom and discipline to ask questions and understand the process before we get in a crisis. Easier said than done. Bottom line though is we just need to do it. Just ask Granny – not all surprises are good.
Posted at 07:41AM Jan 29, 2008 by George Miller in Personal | Comments[0]