Service Providers

3 Questions for your Business Prevention Department

Chris Clovis BlogNo. Say it with me now: “NO.” It’s a powerful word — one of the strongest in any language. Regardless of your station in life, saying “no” empowers you.

Contrary to the “Yes Man” stereotype, “No Men” (and women) are much more common. In business, as in life, “no” is a default response. “No,” along with “It’s policy” grants power without accountability, reason, or discernment.

I call it the DMV Theory: it states that when any low-level government or corporate employee is asked for something, 99.9997 percent of the time the answer will be “NO,” with the corresponding follow-up, “It’s policy,” which is synonymous for “no brain required.”

Now imagine if each time you were denied a request, the employee instead took a thoughtful moment to really consider it, asking themselves these three questions:

1: Is it what’s best for the Customer and their Experience?

2: Is it what’s best for the Company and its Growth?

3: Does it maintain legal and ethical standards?

If the answers to the above are yes, your reply to the inquiry must also be YES, period.

Even when running a business, with the constant need to create, innovate and move outside the box, “no” is often all you’ll hear from those around you. Saying “no” is safe and easy — the path of least resistance. When making important steps, you’ll never have a shortage of people telling you to hold back, followed by a laundry list of great reasons why not to move forward with the change, make the deal, or try that idea. 

Meet your Business Prevention Department, or BPD

Didn’t know you had a BPD? Well you do. Every business has BPD Traffic Cops, lots of them. The person who complains about your top salesman because he doesn’t fill out his paperwork correctly? That’s your BPD. That admin person who lost his or her mind because a $12,000 contract was sold slightly off-rate? BPD. The middle manager who kiboshes every presentation or new idea from an outside vendor? Yep, card-carrying member of the BPD.

BPD staffers are invested in the status quo. They feel that their job is to save the company from itself, by adhering to every regulation, guideline, policy and protocol. Rule following is key to them, above all else. They wield “policy” as a weapon as even the lowliest of BPD staffers is unstoppable with “policy” on their side.

Advertisement

Back to the word no: BPD people typically don’t have the power to say yes, but they do have the power to say no. “No” strengthens and protects them, so they can play the wise skeptic; refusing to believe shady proposals and risky endeavors. They are the flinty-eyed cop: always vigilant and always protecting the business from greedy, corner-cutting consultants, vendors, salespeople, clients, customers, you name it.

And you know what? The world needs cops. But the world needs entrepreneurs, innovators and risk-takers more. And you must decide who’s ultimately in charge — the cops or the rainmakers.

Here’s the short answer: BPD Traffic Cops never made anyone money. They never closed a big deal, grew a business, or created a job. They never discovered a new market, an innovative strategy, or a creative solution.

In their attempts to protect it, the BPD will cause your business to fail.

Entrepreneurship, by definition, is risk-taking. It requires bold steps, smart decisions and quick thinking. It demands innovation, progression and creative execution, because if you don’t take those steps, someone else will. BlackBerry and pre-bailout General Motors were run by their BPDs. Google and Tesla keep their BPDs in check. Understand who in your company is twisting the throttle and driving the business and who the traffic cops are, wagging fingers and writing tickets. Identify these folks, then regulate authority accordingly.

In the 1980s, engineers at Xerox developed a new type of personal computer. It had a graphical interface, icons on the screen that you clicked on and this thing they called a “mouse.” Xerox had an extremely powerful BPD, and they didn’t want to chase a fad, throwing money at some geek’s toy. They wanted to protect the company by avoiding risk and focusing on the copier business. So they invited a couple of 20-something nerds to check the thing out. Both saw the potential and jumped in full-throttle. The BPD at Xerox laughed at those two guys’ reckless quest to build it themselves.

Who were those idiots that didn’t know better? Their names were Steven Jobs and William Gates.

For every successful business story there was a BPD that told someone else not to do it.

Does this mean you fire the BPD and let the salespeople and designers run wild? Of course not. Like I said, the world needs cops. But your BPD is more powerful than you realize. Educate everyone in your organization to ask the three questions before denying an idea, a customer, or a direction. But YOU must decide who sets the speed, because if you don’t the cops will.

And nobody wants to live in a world where traffic cops have control of the throttle.

Ride On,

-CC 

Chris Clovis has had the honor and pleasure of 25 years in the powersports Industry, currently serving as vice-president of EagleRider Motorcycle Sales (http://motorcycles.eaglerider.com). Chris’ opinions are his own, and do not necessarily reflect those of his employer, publisher, or clients. Chris lives in Los Angeles with his family. Visit www.chrisclovis.com for more information.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button