“I want to see the entire direct marketing team in Conference Room A at 10 AM this morning. No exceptions.”
As voice mail from the Executive Vice President Scott McDermott cascaded through the key teams, each VPs forwarding message raised the stakes and anxiety for each recipient in the food chain.
There were no stragglers to this meeting, their first with the Big Name Business Leader Media Star, freshly recruited from outside the industry. Across the assembled teams, managers quietly speculated and shared rumors on this latest fire. As the EVP commanded the room, his body language broadcast worry and anger:
“I’ve just received confidential intelligence our industry’s Direct Mail performance for latest quarter. [Competitor A] did a mailing that got an exceptional response rate. Far higher than has ever been reported!!! On the other hand, this department is barely beating the industry average—you’re 3% compared to 1% to 2%. Too much time is being spent sitting around congratulating yourselves, when quarter after quarter you’ve only won each race by a nose.”
“Well, this time you’re not. [Competitor A] is crushing us. And I’m being asked why we’re doing so poorly in comparison. Hell, some of you came from over there. Why can’t you figure out how to get push the envelope???!!! I don’t want to hear excuses; I want results. Get moving; get busy. I want to see our numbers climbing and I want it fast. I’ve instructed each of my direct reports to make this top priority. Now get me some answers!”
And he left.
The room burst into multiple conversations.
To be continued……….Dr. Bob
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