Recently, I was asked to create a presentation for ASA-Texas, an Automotive Service Association affiliate. I was allowed to choose the subject, and I decided upon “Involvement and Commitment: Risks and Rewards.” The work that followed focused on the dramatic impact changes in our culture have had on our institutions and associations; and, how these institutions and associations were going to have to adjust in order to survive.
The premise was simple: With more people doing more things than ever before, why is it that fewer and fewer people are willing to do those things within the context of a group? Or, as Robert Putnam asked in Bowling Alone, why is it that with more people bowling, there are fewer leagues and less league play?
There are lots of answers. But, it would be safe to say that a lot of it has to do with the pressures we seem all too willing to subject ourselves to: pressures socially, culturally and financially; pressures both real and imagined.
More people are more connected than at any other time in the history of the world, and yet those connections seem superficial at best. We text and we tweet, we share the most intimate and trivial details of our lives with anyone who will listen, but do we actually touch one another?
We are connected without the connection.
I didn’t have to look much farther than my own life to find suitable examples of this phenomenon. I “belong” to more than one association. I’m involved in a number of other groups as well. Some are social. Some are professional. Each has its own agenda and demands.
The question isn’t whether or not I belong, however. Or, at least it shouldn’t be. The question is whether or not I participate, whether or not I’m involved if I do belong. And, then, if I am involved and I choose to participate, whether or not I take that final step and commit.
You’re probably wondering what any of this has to do with you. That’s what I would be wondering. But, if you think about it, this is a profoundly appropriate subject for this forum. If you’re in the distribution industry, you are probably involved with a group. Some because you feel your involvement is the right thing to do, the best thing for our industry. Some of you are involved for the extra point or two you receive in discounts or allowances. And, some of you are probably involved because it gives you access and opportunities you just wouldn’t have otherwise.
Some of those groups have service center programs — programs that deliver real value at little or no cost to the repair community, and yet are enjoying only marginal success when you look at the total number of shops and shop owners who would certainly benefit from a commitment to those programs.
If you’re a manufacturer you might have programs of your own. Programs that are available to your functional customers — people like me who purchase your products or take advantage of your services based on brand preference. How many shops are involved? How many are committed…committed to your program, your products or even to our company?
Involvement requires little more than awareness and then interest, while commitment requires sacrifice — a sacrifice of time, money and/or effort.
So, if you really are interested in your customers moving from awareness to interest, and then from interest to commitment, the real question has to be: Is what you are offering worthy of something more than a tacit of awareness? Is it worthy of the kind of sacrifice we are talking about? In a world of clutter and noise, is it even worthy of someone’s interest?
They say you know all you need to know about involvement and commitment if you understand the difference between ham and eggs. By supplying the eggs, the chicken is involved. The commitment the pig is forced to make is exponentially greater!
The difference here is that neither involvement nor commitment can be forced. They must occur naturally as a reciprocal of consideration, communication, appreciation and respect. Something to think about the next time you order breakfast.
