Business as “Un-usual”

April 10, 2020 / By Kevin Norcross

As I sit in my home office working with Saint-Gobain internationally, Saint-Gobain North America and other Vetrotech manufacturing facilities around the world, “business as usual” is what all of us are trying to achieve.

Unfortunately, that ship has sailed. The fact is, it’s absolutely “business as un-usual.” As we keep our eyes on our No. 1 goal, our employees’ health, we also still have to run our collective businesses, doing whatever it takes to keep serving our customers.

This strange new world gave me a rare opportunity to take a step back and reorganize my thoughts about what is really important, even as we all want a quick recovery and for our employees and business associates (all of whom are more than like friends and family) to be healthy and prosperous.

We are all getting used to working virtually, digitizing, managing online sales and taking the “personal touch” away from our daily routines, when that personal touch is what many of us like best about being in sales. Interacting face-to-face with our customers and providing hands-on education about our products are just a couple of the things that we all take for granted in our day-to-day professional routines.

While we have found a work-around for the duration of the pandemic, I personally hope that business as unusual is not permanent and I can go back to shaking hands, talking face-to–face and finding solutions with my customers in person.

At the end of the day, that’s what I love about this business: those one-on-one personal interactions with both parties in the same room and on the same page.

Hopefully this crisis will soon be over. I am confident that when it has passed, we’ll see greater opportunity than ever before. Certainly we’ll come back with new ideas about the workplace and the potential for virtual connections. But these digital solutions will be no substitute for a handshake, a pat on the back or a shared meal.

Let’s all hope that business as usual returns sooner rather than later.

Stay safe and healthy.