Covid, shutdowns and…Style matters…

Covid, shutdowns and…rediscovering creativity

Back when Covid had us its’s early grip and our bread-and-butter customers were shut down we got creative because we had to. Many turned to selling non-traditional customers to fill the gap that challenge created.

That included new ideas – like selling sanitizers to police departments to safeguard them from Covid infection after having detainees in their back seats. Before schools went on lockdown it might have included selling athletic departments sanitizers for use on gym mats.

Understandably with all the Covid craziness behind us we went back to the established pattern of selling the customers we’re accustomed to servicing and even then, only pretty much what we’d always been selling them.

So maybe we need to mentally revisit our Covid mindset and rediscover new ways of looking at our current customers’ needs. But more importantly perhaps we need to think creatively about new classes of prospects who we can sell the very products we already have.

That might include some unconventional options like hardware stores, laundromats or car dealerships. Of course those and other non-traditional prospects might take us out of our comfort zone, but also into new sources of profit.

And while they may offer comparatively modest sales opportunities, those sales would be both incremental and likely represent low (or even no) service or dispensing equipment investment.

Next up: Freeing up our creative mindset.

Style matters…But which one’s best?

Is there a perfect management style? Is one better than all the others? Perhaps more importantly what’s yours? Understanding management is more than knowing its’ core purpose – which simply stated is getting things done through others. But the way we approach that basic function can be made or foiled by the style we use to accomplish it.

First there’s the dictator. There the manager believes since he’s the boss all he has to do is demand what he wants, and it’ll magically happen. And to a degree he’s correct, but the moment he’s not there to enforce his will it all falls apart. Moreover that approach never engenders much of a team feeling.

Then there’s the buddy style. It can be great for team building since this manager doesn’t see himself as the boss but only as a team member. He approaches everything as a group endeavor. And like his polar opposite the dictator, it requires his presence to work. No manager – no activity.

Those are only two of an almost endless number of ways of managing others. But regardless of how we approach the task, style matters. Choosing one that both fits our personalities and works well with our people is the challenge.

Next up: Style and getting them to care.