Being alone, or the only one – is that not one of the biggest fears that people face in everyday life?
That’s why support groups, special interest clubs and Web sites, and even social networking exist – to bring people with like problems, challenges and interests together. To provide connectivity yes, but in a more basic sense, to give us a sense of belonging – to let us know that we’re not the only ones in a given situation.
It’s not that different in business. There are industry consortiums, Web sites devoted to specialized job functions, and executives from different companies belong to share groups – all in an effort to share common experiences and challenges, and to come away with the comfort that at least we’re not the only ones encountering a given situation.
Even blogs are an outgrowth of this phenomenon, connecting people, who with no other connection and who may be clear around the world, find that there is common ground and shared experiences from which they can grow together. After all, we all just want a sense of belonging, and we all want to know that we’re not the only ones.
I hear this all the time from clients and other business associates that I encounter in the context of communications – perhaps because it’s one of those areas that has not traditionally been seen as the driver of a bottom line impact, and so traditionally much attention has not been paid to this area in the past. The challenges often fall into these categories:
- we have too little communication, or too much;
- our messaging, brand teams and sales teams are not aligned, and worse actually competing;
- we have too many different messages creating confusion in our sales channels;
- we have dysfunctional processes that constantly get in the way of efficient productivity;
- our sales people have so many tools, yet they seem to use so few of them;
- our sales reps are constantly wasting time looking for stuff, or worse making their own;
But the thing that I hear more than any other is “why do we have these issues, and does anyone else?”
The answer, of course, is a resounding YES.
Most companies, big or small, have communications issues and challenges. Some handle them better than others, some have addressed them head on, and some have benefited from a proactive stance in dealing with them. But the bottom line is that communications in corporate America, and specifically in B to B sales, is still a big problem for most companies – and a huge potential opportunity for being more efficient and productive, and for positively impacting sales effectiveness.
So the next time you think about communications and all the challenges that you face, realize that you’re not alone. That many others face similar situations, and that there are experiences and successes that can be learned from and applied.
