Friction is the force that appears whenever two things rub against each other. Although two objects might look smooth, on a microscopic level, they are very rough and jagged. No matter which direction something moves in, friction pulls it the other way. Move something left, friction pulls right. Move something up, friction pulls down. It appears as if nature has given us friction to stop us from moving anything.
We can encounter friction in relationships with people as well. When one person’s perception differs from another then there is “relationship friction.” Creating attraction is the fastest way to bring about change because we reduce or even eliminate friction. Typically friction is inversely proportionate to the amount of change we want to produce. For example, if we are looking to launch a new product, the typical approach would be to design and print product announcements and send them to customers. We may also develop press kits and send them to the media in hopes of published product reviews. By the way, I am not suggesting that these actions are ineffective, simply that launching such initiatives will produce some degree of friction.
Let’s assume we do in fact send the above mentioned product announcements and press kits. When this happens we unwittingly create friction in a number of ways. First, the customers that receive the announcement may say; “my supplier is just looking for a way to sell me more products at a higher price.” Or the media that receives the press kit might have so many press kits to review that there is just not enough time to do so. In other words, the time required to perform the review or the investment required to buy the new product rubs up against the perception of the potential value gained.
This force operates in the world of management as well as the world of marketing. What if we are experiencing a reduction in customer satisfaction levels? What if we needed to change the way our customer service representatives are handling clients? Again the traditional approach would be to launch some type of customer service training initiative. Again this would produce friction. First, the customer service staff will need to commit the time to attend the training. This will “rub against” the time they will need to invest, which typically would be dedicated to assisting customers. When announcing such training you may have even heard employees say, “Why bother and train us to serve the customer better when all this does is give us LESS time available to serve the customer?” Again regardless of your perception of the value of customer service training, the point I am making is that merely attempting the change creates some type of friction.Attraction is the opposite of friction. I like to believe that if we can reduce friction in our business relationships then we will be more successful in creating attraction. This can alter our ability to motivate customers to take action as well as employees to become more productive and committed. We will transform “adapting to necessary change” into LEADING revolutionary change! This is one of the reasons that I have created my “attraction principles.” I believe that with the right knowledge, mindset, and discipline we can actually “attract” a positive, desirable change, rather than being swept-up in unwanted change. Check out the Attract More Business Program and sign-up for our upcoming Attraction workshops. Seeking a way to put this into practice for your business? Come to our Attraction workshops! Go to: http://www.sbanetwork.org/classes/upcoming_classes.asp for more information!