I just got back from a week of
analyzing the ocean and innovating my golf game. I had no option
for internet connectivity.
Took most of Monday to get through the 600
email messages that weren’t obviously non-actionable.
What I noticed was that most projects had continued to develop without my input. Requests for
information early in the week turned out to be bogus or unnecessary later
in the week. There was nothing that required action.
A second observation was that by
getting away and then coming back fresh, I saw a number of better
solutions that I hadn’t considered before leaving.
I started considering my 24 by 7 rapid
response style of working. Jack
told me about Napoleon’s
practice “to leave all letters unopened for three weeks, and
then observed with satisfaction how large a part of the
correspondence had thus disposed of itself and no longer required an
answer.”
I still think responsiveness to clients
and prospects is a huge asset.
So what is the solution?
During one remarkable stretch, I made
the four largest sales in a forty year old multinational’s history.
I was all over my customers.
The transactions generated a multitude
of requests from internal staff functions for altering the standard
agreement with the customers. These requests didn’t fulfill the
three conditions that define value, so I ignored them. I guess they were handled within their departments.
So perhaps, the answer is (again)
sometimes you do, and sometimes you don’t. The trick is developing
the skill of knowing when to do each.
Live Slow And Prosper is a
registered lifemark of noted Terrapin Bill
“Slow” Van Dyke.
