Changing the way an organization operates can have many repercussions. Some times it is difficult to decide which effects are important and which ones are major. Similarly, many people dislike change simply because it creates short-term problems and forces alterations in their lives. Any new plan faces these problems and more. Sometimes even more than planning, overcoming these objections requires persuasion. Listen to a typical conversation at a company that distributes musical merchandise.
| Jake: | We've got this great idea! We can put the team together and sell direct to the consumers. We'll computerize the entire inventory system and install an order-entry system that can be accessed with telephones or personal computers. |
| Elwood: | Sure, Jake, that way customers can buy directly from us, skipping the retail outlets. |
| Jake: | Yeah, Elwood. It'll be great. We'll be able to charge lower prices and still make more money. In addition, we'll know exactly what's hot and what's not selling. No more messing around with sales estimates. We'll have the exact numbers. |
| Aretha: | I don't know, you'd better think about your actions. Think! |
| Murph: | Aretha's right. We're not set up to handle the direct distribution. Besides, from my sales experience, most customers like to have their purchases immediately. |
| Jake: | We've got that worked out, Lou. We'll use overnight delivery to get them the stuff the next morning. In the worst case, they have to wait maybe 20 hours. |
| Elwood: | Plus, for new music, we're planning ahead for some new tricks. |
| Jake: | That's right. With our computer system, the customers can listen to a few cuts over the phone before they decide. That's more than they can do in any retail store. Even better, with the new recordable disks, we could transfer the data directly over the phone to their disks. We collect the money up front, the customers get to sample the music, and they get copies immediately. |
| Aretha: | I'm not convinced, Jake. What about the costs? We need a huge new computer system. Plus, someone has to pay for these phone calls. What's to stop people from tying up a phone line for hours listening to different cuts? |
| Jake: | Those are minor details. Once we get the computer system in, we can program anything we want. We can limit the length of each call. With the new phone services, we can even place limits on the number of calls we accept from each phone number to stop repeat callers who don't buy anything. |
| Murph: | But what's going to happen to the distribution department? We've got sales people, managers, and a big shipping department. |
| Elwood: | Well, if Aretha’s really worried about costs, we can save a ton of money by cutting most of those departments. |
| Murph: | But some of those people have been with us for 15 years. I'm not being sentimental, but those folks have a lot of knowledge and experience that we shouldn’t just toss out. |
| Jake: | Hey, hey. We're not just going to throw people away. In fact, after two years, we'll probably be bigger than we are now. We'll need all of those people. They'll just be doing different things. |
| Aretha: | Sure, Jake. If your plan works. If the retailers don’t get too upset. If the customers actually want to buy products this way. If we can get the workers retrained. If our competitors don’t cut prices and knock us out of business. Then maybe we'll be better off. It sounds too risky to me. |
| Murph: | She’s got a point, Jake. If this plan fails, we’re dead. Besides millions in costs, we'll lose sales. Even worse, we’ll never get back into the retail stores. They'll be so upset at us that they'll never carry our products again. We have to be careful. |
| Aretha: | Isn't there some way we can do this without betting the entire company? |
| Jake: | Come on, folks. We have to be bold! Think about the future. We have a chance to be the first and the best. Opportunities like this don't come along every day. We need a positive outlook. |
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