The Moon On A Stick

FINANCIAL PLANNERS –In a recent blog, I spoke about ‘Messer’s’ and how their chaotic behaviour and refusal to follow your business processes can damage your company.

But did you know they have an evil twin?

They most certainly do!

These are the people who are TOO engaged in what you do.

In fact, they are so engaged, they have their own ideas and expectations on how it should be done;

• They want three meetings when you know it only needs two.
• They insist on speaking to you personally every time they call, even though you have a team who are far better placed to deal with their query.
• They look for tiny errors in the detail and blow them up to catastrophic proportions, resulting in emails at 10 o’clock at night. In CAPITALS. Sometimes even in red.

In short, they want the moon on a stick.

So how to deal with them?

The same way a restaurant would.

Let’s say you run a local restaurant. It’s Saturday evening; it’s busy, but everyone is getting fed and having a good time.

A customer comes in and you present them with the menu, but they decide there is nothing on there they fancy.

Instead, they ask you to cook a special meal just for them. They’ve even brought along a recipe and based on all the other items on your menu, they know you have all the ingredients needed.

Do you cook the dish?

Let’s say you do because you’re a nice person and want to be super helpful. Maybe there’s even a little bit of professional ego in there as well, eager to meet the challenge.

You tell the kitchen to stop what they are doing and to cook the special meal for your special guest. Which they do because they are skilled chefs and keen to please.

The meal is served, and the special customer is satisfied.

Success?

No, because the special meal disrupted all the tightly run processes aimed at serving 60 meals within a two-hour timeframe.

And so, the other 59 diners didn’t get a good experience.

The time that was lavished on the difficult customer was at the expense of everyone else, who was happy to order from the menu.

Instead, they went home hungry.

The difference was that they didn’t shout at you about it.

They just went home and won’t come back.

But next Saturday, your difficult customer will be back with a different recipe, and they’ll have the restaurant to themselves.

We have processes and systems in our business for a reason: to give everyone a fantastic experience and service.

You know this because you’ve probably spent years perfecting them through trial and error, and the fact you’re still here, fighting the good fight, means you’ve learned what works and what doesn’t.

And allowing one individual to override your processes in your business is, if you’ll pardon the pun, a recipe for disaster.

Just because they’re bolshy doesn’t make them right.

Just because they’re loud doesn’t make them more knowledgeable than you.

And most of all, just because they’re challenging, don’t take it as a challenge!

Smile sweetly, hand them the menu and stand firm.

You’ll never build a business by bending to the demands of the noisy few.

Build it on the quiet satisfaction of many.

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