{"id":863,"date":"2021-06-04T14:32:49","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T13:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cardellmedia.com\/agency\/?page_id=863"},"modified":"2021-06-04T20:56:58","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T19:56:58","slug":"beware-the-new-normal","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.cardellmedia.com\/agency\/services\/beware-the-new-normal\/","title":{"rendered":"Beware \u2018The New Normal\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\t\tBeware \u2018The New Normal\u2019\n\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\"Work\n\t

As you may have noticed, the world is changing. The monarchy is apparently crumbling, political correctness is spreading faster than a Brazillian variant (I read a comment recently that \u2018Come on Eileen\u2019 by Dexys Midnight Runners is offensive because of what he wanted her to do with that pretty red dress). I would catch some episodes of \u2018On The Buses\u2019 on satellite TV while you still can.<\/p>\n

On top of all that, we have the consequences of a pandemic year. No more offices. No more live meetings. No more business travel. It\u2019s the \u2018new normal\u2019 apparently.<\/p>\n

But is it?<\/p>\n

As I sit here with my Dexys album blaring loud, I have a warning for you: be very wary of \u2018the new normal.\u2019<\/p>\n

Life as a business owner is a daily battle against the forces trying to mess up all of your hard work.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re rarely the forces of cunning enemies. They\u2019re nearly always the forces of incompetence and laziness.<\/p>\n

The new normal being foisted on us by the media and others is as close as you can get to a 24\/7 party for the incompetent and lazy. So be careful!<\/p>\n

So, a quick look at 3 elements of the new normal that directly affect you as an Entrepreneur.<\/p>\n

But first, 2 quick points:<\/p>\n

First, I can\u2019t predict the future but I do think it\u2019s highly likely that the whole \u2018new normal\u2019 thing will turn out to be 80% B.S. Human beings are very habitual animals drawn to habitual behaviour. After 9\/11 everyone in the USA was terrified to fly. Travel was never going to be the same again. A few months later, all was back to normal.<\/p>\n

Second, even when some of this does happen, just because \u2018everyone\u2019 is doing it, doesn\u2019t mean that you have to do it. It\u2019s your business. You decide. You\u2019re not under the pressures that the big companies are under to keep the millennial masses happy and look good on the media. They can afford some of the very costly mistakes they\u2019re about to make. You probably can\u2019t. <\/p>\n

So, our quick review of \u2018The New Normal\u2019:<\/p>\n

\n\t\tOffices\n\t<\/h2>\n\t

Next time you\u2019re bored, put one of the business TV channels on and watch them interview the CEO of a large corporation and ask about the future of their employees working from home.<\/p>\n

As the CEO gives the politically correct answer about 3 day weeks etc, you will see the terror in their eyes.<\/p>\n

What they know but dare not say is that at the best of times, most employees of large corporations are incompetent or close to it (think of the last corporation you dealt with.) And that\u2019s when they\u2019re trapped in an office with someone leaning over them and watching their every move.<\/p>\n

The thought of everyone being allowed to let rip from home is terrifying. But that CEO is under pressure to keep with the new normal so they\u2019ll compromise at a 3-day office week. The employees are happy with that because they like the social side of their work and 3 days should be just enough to catch up on the Kardashian gossip.<\/p>\n

Of course, the whole thing is daft. If working from home can be made to work (which it can, with enforcement), go the whole way and set up an amazing virtual business. A few will do this, but not many.<\/p>\n

So yes, working patterns will change, to an extent. But you need to be VERY careful with this. A small business that has one or 2 or a few key people can\u2019t afford to mess with productivity. So if you want staff in your office 5 days per week because that works for you, don\u2019t feel guilty about insisting on it. Your business is not a democracy. It should be a benign dictatorship. Plus there are many advantages for working for an Entrepreneurial business, as your team will be well aware. It may just be that working from home isn\u2019t one of them.<\/p>\n

If it sounds like I\u2019m against virtual businesses, I\u2019m not. I decided 5 years ago to build a completely virtual global business for many reasons, the main one being that I want to hire the best people in the world for my clients, regardless of where they\u2019re located. It works brilliantly and as you can imagine, I\u2019ve been very grateful over the last year that I made that decision. But we\u2019re very clear with our team on boundaries, the main one being enforcement. We track and monitor everyone\u2019s working time. Not because I don\u2019t trust them. I do. My team is amazing. But if you\u2019re going to be virtual, you have no choice. <\/p>\n

\n\t\tTravel\n\t<\/h2>\n\t

I think that business travel will eventually revert to normal or close to it. It\u2019s a big perk of the job for many in boring corporations. If you\u2019re in a business that is linked to, or dependent in some way on business travel, hang in there and again, be skeptical of predictions of its demise<\/p>\n

\n\t\tMeetings\n\t<\/h2>\n\t

This is another potential minefield for us as business owners. In my business, historically, most of our sales took place at seminars and live events or in one-to-one meetings with business owners. In 2020, not only did we replace all of that with virtual events, phone calls and online meetings, we had our highest year of sales ever.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the critical part: the fact that we\u2019ve had that success does not equate to those methods replacing what used to work.<\/p>\n

First, the business world has no idea yet to what extent Zoom meetings etc worked because we and our customers were forced into them and had no choice. I think a lot of people are fed up with Zoom and if you continue to depend on it because it\u2019s cheaper\/easier than face-to-face meetings, you could be in for a nasty surprise.<\/p>\n

Second, they probably worked because we all got a lot better at making them work. That\u2019s great but it doesn\u2019t mean that live face-to-face meetings won\u2019t have a higher close rate. Of course we\u2019ll carry on using these new methods, but I\u2019ll be doing it alongside live events and face-to-face interactions with customers.<\/p>\n

For the last 100 years, in every test undertaken, the best place to sell with the highest conversions has been in front of another human being. Ignore that at your peril.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCall (+44) 330 097 2882\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t

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