Triad Communication - Getting Things Done

Episode #5 Continued - Is Tony the Right Fit?

Mike Malik — Friday, June 12, 2009

As VP of Sales, Ron was very concerned to hear Tony’s report of the meeting. He decided that it was time to talk to Janice himself.

“I wanted to touch base with you to let you know how important your business is to us and see if there is anything that I can do to assure you are satisfied with our service.” Ron said when he had Janice on the phone.

Janice smiled. Clearly she had delivered her message to Tony that she was not a push over. “Thanks for the call, Ron. But everything is OK.” Janice replied. “In fact, I’m really pleased with what Tony presented the other day.”

Ron paused. “I’m glad that you were pleased with the presentation. What about the presenter? Is Tony a good Account Manager for you to work with?”

Episode #5 Continued - How was the Meeting?

Mike Malik — Thursday, June 11, 2009

“So how was your meeting with Tony?” Lisa asked as Janice came into her office. “Does he admit that the customer is always right?”

Janice smiled and nodded. “The meeting was great! Tony finally came up with some great ideas and I succeeded in my goal of making it clear to Tony that I wasn’t a push over. We are exactly where I want us to be.”

***************************

Tony came into Sally’s office and slumped in a chair. “I’m going to get fired!”

“Tell me what happened.” Sally replied. “I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as you think.”

“I thought I had a relationship with Janice.” Tony replied. “But I couldn’t get her to interact with me. She just sat there while I talked about our approach. When I asked her what she thought about something she would say ‘I’ll tell you when I’ve heard the entire presentation.’”

“That is odd.” Sally looked concerned. “So what did she say at the end?”

“She told me that she would think about it and get back to me. Then she left the room. She didn’t even say goodbye.”

Episode #5 Continued - Silence

Mike Malik — Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Tony passed Janice his presentation and sat down.

“OK.” He thought as he tried to psych himself up while starting to sweat. There was a lot riding on this meeting being a success. “I’ll follow her lead and I’ll make it strictly business. Ron reminded me to focus on Janice. I know that I’m the best one at our agency to get a discussion going with Janice!”

Tony took a deep breath. “The overall business objective is improving the image of your company. This is what both you and I have worked on for the last several years and even in tight budget times, the goal hasn’t changed.”

Janice said nothing.

“I’ve outlined a plan for your consideration that focuses on three strategies to support the goal. This isn’t a final plan, but a discussion document. I’m looking for your guidance and input. This presentation will help us stay focused and enable us to identify what you think will have the most impact on your business. But before we get started, do you have any additional items or updates that you want to cover during this meeting?”

Janice looked down at the presentation that Tony had given her and still said nothing…

Episode #5 Continued - All Business

Mike Malik — Monday, June 08, 2009

Tony stood and smiled as Janice came in. “Janice, It’s so good to see you! I’m anxious to hear all about what has been happening with you over the last couple of months as well as see if we can’t figure out a few ways that I can help you advance your business goals.” Tony said.

“This is my chance to make certain Tony understands our relationship and roles.” Janice thought to herself.

Janice smiled as well. “I’m always happy to work with people who want to help me!” Janice said. “You said that you had prepared some thoughts after our last conversation.”

“So she isn’t going to spend any time on relationship building.” Tony thought to himself. “All business and no social conversation is not a good sign for me.”

Episode #5 Continued - Something Must Move

Mike Malik — Friday, June 05, 2009

“I need to get things moving again!” Janice thought to herself as she walked down the hall to the conference room where Tony was waiting. “I need to figure out what we can do within our limited budget and start moving. The year is moving fast and I’ve done nothing that I can talk about in my year end review… but WHAT am I going to get Tony moving on??”

Janice took a deep breath before opening the conference room door. She was certain of the goal of this meeting, but still didn’t know exactly what she wanted to get moving. “Oh well. Let’s see what happens!” she sighed and went into the room.