Change is something we all live with but often makes us very uncomfortable. People in general like to have things stay the way they are; not for any other reason that that it is what they are used to. Even the worst way of doing something in the world can seem better than change. Sometimes, the worst critics of a given way of doing something will all of a sudden be big supporters of the original way of doing things as soon as you try to change it … odd but true. I have even seen cases where a person left one company because they hated the systems they had in place, went to the new company to implement a new solution and put the same one in because he knew it … crazy, but it happens more often than you would think.
I couldn’t help but notice the parallel between the environment we implement new Direct Store Delivery systems and the environment in which we serve our customers. We recently had the opportunity to realign our support and account management strategies to provide a single point of contact for each of our customers. There is no more trying to find the right office and the right person for each and every contact point at HighJump. There is normal resistance to this process as our customers are used to calling around to find the right people. After awhile you can’t pass the ball down the line any faster so you need to find a new way to pass the ball. Change comes at a price. See the example above.
Thankfully we are meeting with a lot of support for our changes. One place to call for problems, one account manager for each customer who is also responsible for all other customers in that industry or customer group. People are uncomfortable none the less; we expect and respect that. Change takes time and effort. We can’t wait for 2010 and the promise it shows in delivering a new level of support and service to our customers. Under the “old way” we simply couldn’t do it.
Our customers go under a tremendous amount of change when they deploy our systems. We are undergoing tremendous change as we re-organize to offer a world class organization. We are so appreciative for our customers and the willingness to work with us. It takes all of us working together to be truly great. The customer relationship is a key and we hope to bring that to a new level in 2010.
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