“THE ECONOMY will shrink by 8.3 per cent this year and contract by a further 3 per cent in 2010, when unemployment will peak at “15 per cent plus”, according to the latest projections from the Central Bank”

(click Times logo for story)

Reading this headline, you could be forgiven for thinking what next?

But maybe you shouldn’t. Perhaps the greatest damage that has being done is not to our economy, but to our thinking.

Ireland was, is and will continue to be an open economy. For a while, we allowed a situation to develop where this reality was turned on its head, and now allied with a world recession; we find ourselves up the s#@ter without a paddle.

For our collective troubles, we made sure to leave ourselves with a uniquely Irish mess.

• A spectacular banking crisis
• A bloated and inefficient public sector
• A tremendous high cost base.

Now wait for it, we find that our recovery is tied right back to where we started. In our ability to become a successful open economy once again - TRUE: Yes, EASY: No.

High cost base + open economy = competitive?

1+1 = 3

OK, so we won’t need a rocket scientist then, thank God. So while our problems might be big, they also pretty darn obvious. Now here is where the simplicity of my argument ends.

Unique problems call for creative solutions, right?

Seeing as we allowed such a downrightly stupid situation to evolve, what does this say about our recent track record with being creative?

Frankly, it sucks.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

I hear a lot of talk about making hard decisions; but shouldn’t these hard decisions have being part of last year’s news?

Isn’t a hard decision where one is required to make a great choice? Isn’t one that requires foresight rather hindsight? Isn’t one when others struggle with the logic? Isn’t a hard decision one, where grasping the need for such an action is not easily understood?

Surely, hard decisions are made in times when they are difficult to sell rather than by the seat of one’s pance.

Someone please tell me, has HARD become the new OBVIOUS?

Anyway what are required now are not hard decisions, because that ship has sailed, Right?

Here’s a thought, maybe what we really need now is GREAT decisions. Now is surely the time when we most need to employ our creativity, our imagination, and our flair.

So how come then, that it seems to be taking us so long to cop on? How come our preoccupation is with hard rather than great decisions? Might the final legacy of the boom be in how it has dulled our decision making and our creativity?

Let’s look at some of the evidence.

Historically speaking, Celtic Tiger Ireland was a time when making decisions in Ireland was perceived to be at their easiest. Will I buy this car or that car? Will we spend money on this road or that building? Of course we now know that it was a time when a great many of our decisions were at their very worst.

So then, let me ask you again, has the Celtic Tiger really gone? Or perhaps could it still remain, buried deep within our collective psyche? Does it continue to eat away at our creativity, our imagination, our ingenuity and our ability to be innovative around the decisions we now face.

So has the Celtic Tiger really gone, and even if it has, please say it hasn’t eaten all our saints and scholars.

I was working with one of my favourite B2C retail clients over the last two weeks. This is an Irish owned business that in many respects defies the odds. The business depends indirectly upon the Irish construction sector, which as we know has effectively come to a stop - yet they have continued to succeed in 09. This includes plans to expand the operation later in the year.

When you consider, that their competitors are really struggling at the moment, you begin to understand how well this business is run and how solidly the sales team have performed.

This particular company’s referral business is quite simply amazing. It was clear from my conversations with the sales team, that the significant reason for this - is the quality of their sales/customer service experience they provide.

They all agreed that this is the edge that has allowed them to capture an increased market share. These salespeople have quickly realised that the post Celtic Tiger’s customer expectation has risen considerably. Simply put, the customer knows that his/her business is now more important than ever - and expects one trade-off to be more/better service.

Fortunately for this company and its salespeople, very few of their competitors have copped on to this same conclusion. They know this because many of their customers are telling them so, saying that the competitor’s sales team appear to be “not interested” “not bothered” “pretending to be busy” - or are simply choosing “to ignore” potential customers.

This may strike you as crazy behaviour but I ask is it in fact that unusual?. I can recall many stories that would back this same conclusion. The car industry is going through a very rough time, yet I know someone who was virtually ignored when they went to buy a car.

Has the Celtic Tiger economy acted to condition some salespeople to expect “easy business” - and have these same sales people just continued in lazy mode?

Increased customer service expectation should be welcomed by real salespeople because it creates more opportunities for real salespeople.

I say, long live the recession if it rids our profession of these order takers (salespeople?).

Published by Niall Devitt, Btb Business Training