Are you a distraction? If you’re not, why not?

That’s a funny thing to think about because so many of us are goal-minded individuals, and distractions, for us, are something to avoid. At least that’s how we were brought up, right? But trust me, you need to become a distraction. See, our consumers spend every one of their work days looking for distractions.

It’s true, according to various studies, including one Forbes cited a year ago. The Forbes article said Millennials (born between 1982-2004) are wasting two hours per day at work. Their older counterparts, the next generation, aren’t much better.

Two hours per day!
So much of it is simply due to access. First it was the Internet. Now it’s mobile. It is so easy to simply stop working, pick up your cell and find out what you’re buddy is doing tonight. So why not, right?
Here’s the important part for us as retailers to think about: A good distraction is short and sweet. It allows me to grin, laugh or make a mental note and then get back to work.

At least until the next text.
So I’ll ask you again – are you a distraction? Are your sales folks trying to distract, or reach a guy on the phone?

Here’s an example of a distraction via text with a shared video: “Sam, so good to see you at the shop! You HAVE to check out this video. You’ll love the ending!”

Compare that to the traditional phone call, “Sam, it’s Neil from the dealership. You came to the store Saturday, remember? Oh sorry about the noise in the background. The phone up front isn’t working but the one in the service department works great. Hey, uh, did uhhh, you uhhh, decide on the bike? OK, give me a call.”

The idea of producing daily distractions should be a goal of your marketing effort as well. Most waste-time-at-work studies point to social networks as one of the biggest, more frequent time-wasters for employees. And many of these studies say between 3-5 pm is when workers are most likely to start trolling around for distractions.

With that in mind, why not consider adopting a “distraction goal?” Between 3-5 pm. every day, ask your sales staff to distract at least 10 of their consumers. And forget the phone call. That’s old school. Text, email, share instead.

Same with your marketing efforts. What do you have that I, as an enthusiast, can consume in 15-20 seconds time and then get back to work? If you have it, did you share it with me yet? Maybe some more photos of that clean trade-in that came in over the weekend?

The reward of becoming a distraction, of course, is the simple act of connecting. Connect more often and great things will happen.