The Opportunity is Yours

Buzz Delano

Principal Consultant, Delano Associates 

In the course of my work in the audio, video and technology industry I have often been asked

many questions. And I am sure that you as well, field interpersonal Q&A almost daily. We don't

really stop to think about this, we just have the conversations either informally on the fly, over a

refreshment and in meetings.

We should think about it.

We should think about it for what these questions say about our personal and professional values.

Everyone holds values and that’s where it gets interesting as we have question and answer

dialogues pretty much all day, every day. Sure, this takes time but through this time well spent I

believe that opportunities lay.

Let’s think about being an owner of a home technology integration company and the questions

that arise for you. We will stick to business matters here and leave your personal life alone!

You likely have two primary teams of people to communicate with each day. Your employees

and your customers. Each are essential and central. Employees will mostly be asking for your

thoughts and momentary decisions. This is vital to keep things moving and your people

productive. The employees who ask you about ideas and solutions are the extra valuable

conversations. It is easy to be “too busy” “slammed” or “jammed” now, so your reply is either

short, or you find yourself putting it off. Don’t. At least take the time to listen to the basis of the

idea and begin a conversation. Set time later to pick up on it and fully engage with your

employee. This is the opportunity they have been waiting for, and you will realize it is an

opportunity you needed. Ideas, perspective and alternative considerations will emerge and likely

begin to shape something to improve your business. And your employee will feel great as they

split for the day knowing that their boss listened well to them on this day.

Photo courtesy of The Premier Group, Carmel, IN 

The opportunity to engage with your employees by listening to them is immensely valuable.

Company meetings or periodic “bull sessions” are helpful too but the one-on-ones and

impromptu conversations are really where opportunities are, in my opinion. I know this from my

interactions throughout my career with peers and colleagues of all sorts. I have been with

organizations that operate with regularly scheduled meetings for open conversation. Not a bad

idea but such meetings, even with a great and collaborative team are somewhat repressive. The

best ideas and most vital questions aren’t always asked.

Make sure you find the time for informal Q&A with your team.

The other essential group of people asking questions will be your customers. Now, as business

owner and leader, you know these fine folks must always receive your undivided attention. And

as trust builds, they will also understand when sometimes you must listen carefully to them while

also respecting your time.

How do their questions change as you move through the qualifying, selling, designing and

installation phases of the project? Early on, they are probably seeking answers to make them

confident in your recommendations, their decisions and their wallet. This is certainly a critical

phase. Your opportunity now is to explore, learn their needs and draw more thoughts and

questions from them. As the project moves along, their questions will shift from thinking

whether to proceed to “can we…?” and “it would be cool to…” This is a great question and

opportunity time. Your creativity and trust building come together here. How to accurately

answer their questions to get them excited and, very important, to keep your deliverables

achievable. And to keep your PM happy! That's not the opportunity to talk with your project

manager that you should be looking for.

As the project moves along, you may well be taking questions on behalf of your customer from

their “people.” In some instances, there may well be an estate manager and that’s a super critical

relationship for you to support. Then there may be architect, designers and builder. Each has

different tasks and viewpoints but you, the integrator must be dialed in with each of them so that

your customer (client? That’s probably another article...) keeps feeling the trust you have built

with them.

The opportunity is yours to build upon and opportunities abound with every question that comes

your way. All day, every day.