Ok, I’ll admit it; I have had the conversation with myself (and with my wife) regarding how I can be more like Tim Tebow.
No matter what I do, I’m not going to get taller, faster, more athletic, better looking, or have a fan base of millions. However, there are many things Tim Tebow can teach those of us in the contact center world that can immediately change our fortunes.
1. Just because it doesn’t look exactly like what you’re used to , doesn’t mean it isn’t the best option for you to win. The Denver Broncos were not winning consistently, but they had the vision to give a new style of quarterbacking a chance. Tebow’s style is very different, yet he turned around Denver’s fortunes and created a winning environment. This is not unlike the movement to cloud-based solutions. There are still some who have concerns about trying a new cloud-based approach, but they are quickly getting left behind. In order to win consistently, you must be a leader – not a laggard. Denver’s coaches understood that Tebow’s athleticism, winning pedigree and commitment to his teammates provided them the best chance to win despite what some perceived as a risk. But moving to the cloud isn’t risky. A contact solution in the cloud is new and different, but it’s actually the safer strategy given all its’ advantages. In addition, Denver literally created a totally new offensive playbook to match the preference of their new quarterback and personnel. In the contact center world, you similarly stand to get the best results if you understand and honor your customers’ contact channel preferences to improve both effectiveness and efficiency.
2. Flexibility is both a necessity and a huge advantage in most anything you do. Tebow is hard to defend against because he can pass, he can run, he can scramble, etc… Tebow teaches us that being one-dimensional can be limiting. He often runs what is known as the “option” which allows him to choose the best play instantly to optimize the result. In the contact center world, you need that same kind of flexibility in such uncertain times. You’re better prepared to achieve great results when you have on-demand capacity that flexes up or down to meet your needs. Plus, when you can leverage multiple best-of-breed tools and channels (such as predictive dialing, voice messaging, mobile messaging, and email) interchangeably in a single-platform, you’ve created superior flexibility to get the best results with the least amount of effort and complexity. The contact center of today and tomorrow must be as flexible in terms of its’ internal infrastructure as well as its’ ability to deploy the right contact strategy or channel to maximize results.
3. Getting locked-in on a single receiver or solution can be dangerous. Tebow and other young QB’s tend to lock-in and commit to a receiver because it feels comfortable. Yet, once the QB throws the ball with this tunnel vision it regularly brings a negative result that can not be reversed. This relatively blind commitment is costly. Similarly, from an ownership perspective, Denver’s thinking about whether to commit to Tebow as the long-term QB of the franchise. The problem is, once they sign him to a multimillion dollar contact for multiple years, it will set the organization back tremendously if he doesn’t end up being an All-Pro. It’s similar to writing a check to install on-premise hardware and software. You can’t get it back, and it’s going to take many months or years of resources’ time and effort to really get it right. That would all be wasted. With a cloud-based solution, you’ll always be able to make a change and improve your team without having to worry about sunk costs.
4. You’ve got to have the right tools, but just having the tools isn’t enough. You need to work on your mechanics to be the best. Tebow’s poor throwing mechanics causes mistakes and turnovers. The other problem with Tebow is that his mechanics are very hard to change or improve given how he’s played quarterback all his life. In the contact center world, poor mechanics results in sub-par results and lost money. With respect to the mechanics of your contact center, cloud solutions constantly improve technology with upgrades, and some companies, like SoundBite, provide ongoing strategy consultants that help you optimize the mechanics of your campaigns and strategies. This yields top tier results! A cloud-based solution is fundamentally built to be flexible and evolve over time as your needs, your client’s needs, and the market needs all change.
Whether you’re a Tim Tebow fan or not, there’s a lot to learn from him in regards to life and in business. Applying some of these lessons is as close as I’m likely going to get to being more Tebow-like.
