Don't Bother Me - I'm Too Busy!

Our business development director, Gary Tarolli, recently told me a story that reminded me of a cartoon
I had seen on a customer’s wall over twenty years ago: 

The army leader in this cartoon is so focused on fighting a battle, and so unwilling to allow any distractions,
that he misses an opportunity to grasp the decided advantage a machine gun would give his army against
an enemy carrying swords and shields.

Gary’s story involved an executive named Bill who must have been a medieval general in a previous life.  Overwhelmed by phone calls, voice mail messages and emails, Bill decided to erect a fortress around
his office and slam his office door shut. He appointed his trusted, capable assistant Mary as gatekeeper
to guard his time against all intruders, including customers who might want to talk to him for any reason. 

Armed with a short list of people whose calls or emails Bill would accept, Mary developed a routine
designed to discourage even the most persistent callers who were not on Bill’s list.  When someone
would phone to speak to Bill she would ask, “Who is calling?”  This was of course followed by “What
company are you with?”  And that question was followed by the inevitable “May I ask what this is about?” 

It quickly became clear to most callers that getting past Bill’s gatekeeper would be a formidable, if not
impossible task.  Most callers gave up the attempt, and many were annoyed and offended by Mary’s
intrusive grilling.

Bill’s new fortress protected him from interruptions, just like he envisioned.  Except for his boss, his wife
and a few other business associates, no one got through the gatekeeper to distract Bill from his important
work.  Bill was one happy camper.

One day while Bill was having lunch at his favorite restaurant he ran into Dave, an old customer.  After
exchanging the normal pleasantries, Dave mentioned that he was sorry Bill couldn’t bid on the largest
order for product Dave’s company had ever placed.     

Shocked, Bill said “What order?”  Why didn’t you tell me about it?”  “I tried to contact you,” said Dave,
“but I couldn’t get past your assistant.  She didn’t know me, or my company, and she didn’t think you’d
be interested.  I would have called you at home, but I didn’t want to bother you.”

“But why didn’t you call someone in our sales department?” asked Bill.  “I tried,” Dave replied.
“Navigating their voice mail system was almost impossible, and when I finally reached a secretary
she wouldn’t let me talk to anyone.  She told me someone would get back to me, but no one ever called.”

Visibly shaken, Bill offered Dave a meek, embarrassed apology, vowing to get to the bottom of why his
people failed to respond to a great business opportunity with Dave’s company. 

Is there any way for busy executives like Bill to keep distractions to a minimum while ensuring that they
don’t miss out on great opportunities or ideas and solutions that might help them manage their businesses
better?

We think there is a simple solution:  Busy executives can arm their administrative assistants with a tool that
allows the assistants to efficiently manage solicitation calls and voice mail messages without disturbing their
bosses. 

When the executive assistant answers a call from a salesperson, the assistant could forward the caller to
a recorded message that provides instructions for leaving a voice mail message.  The simple recorded
message might sound something like this:

“Thank you for contacting us.  We are always interested to hear great ideas and learn about solutions
that can help us manage our business. Because there just aren’t enough hours in a day to talk with
everyone who calls us, please feel free to leave a voice message if you have an idea or solution that
might help us 1) increase revenue, 2) reduce costs, 3) improve efficiencies, 4) impact our business
strategy or 5) enhance our brand.

If your idea or solution can help us, please clearly explain how your idea or solution might impact one
of these key areas.  Be assured that we will respond to all messages that offer ideas or solutions for
which we have an immediate or future need.  If you aren’t able to help us at this time, please feel free
to contact us again when you have information you would like to share that might help us with our
business.”

A competent, trained administrative assistant could sift through voice mail messages, forwarding only
those messages that might impact issues of concern to the executive.  It is possible for busy executives
to limit outside distractions while reducing the risk of missing out on the next, great idea or solution that
might help them better manage their businesses.

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Copyright © 2008 Selling Up™.  All Rights Reserved.

About the author: Steve Chriest is the founder of Selling Up™ (www.selling-up.com), a sales consulting
firm specializing in revenue and sales improvement for organizations of all types and sizes in a variety of
industries. He is also the author of Selling The E-Suite, The Proven System For Reaching and Selling
Senior Executives and Profits and Cash – The Game of Business.   You can reach Steve at
schriest@selling-up.com.