One of the biggest obstacles to moving any organization forward is dealing with the old guard and the new guard. The operative word here is “guard”. The old and new guard are guarding their own way instead of the best way. You could call them status quo protectors. The old guard tends to be stuck in a really bad rut and actually seems to enjoy it there. They have no interest in utilizing automated tracking systems. They see no value in social media to connect with customers. They fail to realize 75% of customers visit websites and call-in prior to visiting the business. They’re living low-tech in a high-tech world. On the other side of the coin, the new guard seems to have no interest in using snail mail. They don’t see value in standing up to greet a customer and they think dressing in a professional manner impedes their effort to express one’s unique style.
So this blog post is to the “guard”, old or new.
If you’re part of the old guard and grew up playing 8-track tapes, taking care of a pet rock and watching first run episodes of the Brady Bunch, then it’s time to open a twitter account, get linkedin and use email to connect with the next generation of customers. But if you grew up in the digital age, you’ve never seen an 8-track tape player in person and you don’t realize how cool Marcia and Greg Brady really were, then you need to take a page out of the old-school book and understand that tweets, texts and Facebook status updates don’t lead to the best relationships no matter how many BFF’s you think you have.
If you’re part of the new guard, know when to get the 8-track tape player out and go old school. Send a handwritten note every day to a customer or potential customer. Make a phone call to an advocate or potential advocate every day. Get out of the office and visit customers in person every week. It takes more time than texting, but the time/profit benefit will be off the charts. Bottom line… Make good use of the social media and the digital age but also know when to pull out the old 8-track tape player.
