Another day. Another chance to talk about the big multichannel contact strategy pitch. That is a pitch you should always be ready to make. Don’t worry about closing the pitch. Sometimes closing the pitch (sale) and timing can become intertwined, but they don’t always need to be. Sometimes planting the seed is enough. The actual work to implement an adaptive multichannel contact strategy optimization model within an organization could occur before or after the sell. Independent of the modeling process a deal could be closed. In fact, a leadership team could implement a model and gain insights from it without ever rolling it out to the broader organization. Even the process of exploring the current process could kick off a wave of ideation.
We all walk the same path each day. We walk a path toward achieving the mission and values of the organization. That path for the most part is not a time compressed sprint. The path is more of a journey. Talking about timing or talking about now being the exact right time is just a construct that is used by some leaders to process information before they are ready to convert strategy into action. In some ways, timing represents a cognitive benchmark for leaders that some leaders treat like the ultimate hurdle to taking action. The time has to be right, but operationalizing strategy involves a lot more than picking the right time. Knowing the exact moment to take action would be about have all the data necessary to map out a true maximizing value. Most things are a continuum of possible futures vs. a strict point in time where a maximum value has to be achieved within a very specific window.
It is a hard transition to make. It is hard to make the move beyond timing. Trust the power of organic growth. Put the idea out there in the world and see how it grows and develops. Just asking somebody about a contact strategy is a great way to make sure they have one. The first time you ask somebody who does not have a contact strategy about their plan you sparked their fire to develop one. Some people may not take action. That lack of action crafts a pretty compelling story. This endeavor is not about trying to be Kevin Costner in the movie Field of Dreams. If you build it, then use it. The insights you generate from multichannel contact strategy modeling can be extremely useful to evaluate or instruct.
