I'll come clean: For years, my company never had a customer service phone number on our website. When Hootsuite started, with just a few dozen employees, we were honestly worried about being swamped with calls from our millions of users.
坦白说:多年来,我的公司网站上都没有客户服务电话。当Hootsuite(国外一个社交媒体管理平台)起步的时候,只有几十名员工,我们真的很担心会被数百万用户的电话所淹没。

Phone support would have made a lot of sense. And it's not like users weren't asking for it.
通话支持服务很有意义,用户也有这方面的诉求。

Finally, last year, as we were approaching 1,000 employees and 15 million users, I proposed the unthinkable to my team: "Guys, I want to put a 1-888 number right on our home page."
在去年,我们终于拥有了1000名员工和1500万用户,我对我的团队提出了不可思议的建议:“伙伴们,我想把一个1-888的号码放在我们的主页上。”

Their response: "It will never work. Don't you realize what this means? People are going to be calling us all the time."
他们的回应是:“这没有用。你没有意识到这意味着什么吗?人们将无时无刻地给我们打电话。”

It was a classic elephant-and-rope scenario. The old story of the elephant and the rope has been around for a while, though I only heard it recently.
这是一个典型的大象和绳子的情况。关于大象和绳子的古老故事已经传播了很久,尽管我是最近才听说的。

Baby elephants, it seems, were traditionally trained by tying one of their front legs to a stake in the ground. (It goes without saying that capturing and training baby elephants is horrible in and of itself... so hopefully this practice has long gone out of style.)
训练幼象的传统方法是把它们的一条前腿绑在地上。(毫无疑问,捕捉和训练幼象本身是可怕的,所以希望这种做法已经过时了。)

Because the elephants are small, only a thin rope is required. They'll struggle and pull at first, but eventually they realize that they can't break the rope and they'll give up.
因为幼象很小,一条细绳子就够了。它们起初会挣扎,拉扯绳子。但最终它们意识到无法挣脱,就放弃挣扎。

Elephants grow fast, of course. Before long, those cute babies are lumbering giants. But here's the thing: That same thin rope is all that's needed to keep them secured. They think the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.
当然,大象成长的很快。不久之后,这些可爱的小宝宝就会变成庞然大物。但情况是:同样的细绳子就可以保证它们的安全。它们认为这条绳子依然会困住它们,所以它们永远不会尝试挣脱。

Whether or not this is true (and there's at least one compelling answer on Quora to suggest it is), there's a clear moral for the rest of us. In business (not to mention in life), all sorts of invisible mental ropes--flimsy and easily broken--may well be holding us back.
不管是不是真的(至少Quora上有一个高赞回答提及了这个事例),对我们都有精神启示。在商业上(更别提在生活中),所有隐形的精神绳子都有可能困住我们,即使它们脆弱易挣脱。

We reach a conclusion at one time, based on specific set of conditions, then forget to revisit our decisions when things change. It results in missed opportunities, self-imposed blockers and wasted potential.
我们每次都会根据特定条件得出一个结论,当事情变化时,我们却忘记重新审视自己的决定。这会导致我们错失机会、自我禁锢以及浪费潜能。

With our lack of a customer-support number, we were acting like a baby elephant. Don't get me wrong: Preserving a lean-startup ethos--being efficient and nimble--can have its advantages. But this was a clear case where outdated thinking was holding us back.
由于缺少客户服务电话,我们表现得像只幼象。不要误会我的意思,保持高效而灵活的精益创业精神有其自身的优势。但这是一个明显的例子,过时的思想阻碍了我们前进。

Fortunately, late last year, I was able to convince my company to do a beta test of a brand new 1-888 number. We put together a small cross-functional team from customer support, sales and social media coaching to roll out the program.
幸运的是,去年年底,我说服公司对一个品牌做了全新的1-888号码测试。我们组建了一个由客户支持、销售和社交媒体培训组成的跨职能团队,以推广该项目。

We made sure the phone lines were staffed up with the right people. Then, we went live, first with a two-day "stress test" to work out any kinks, then with a two-week trial.
我们确保电话接给合适的人。然后,我们去现场,先用一个为期两天的“压力测试”找出缺陷,之后进行为期两周的试验。

Not surprisingly, the sky didn't fall--quite the opposite, in fact. The volume of calls, around 60 per day, was significant, though not overwhelming.
不出所料,天并没有塌,实际上恰恰相反。每天电话的数量大概是60通,确实不少,但是没有压到我们。

Yes, we definitely burned some man hours handling the phone lines, but the flipside was that our employees spent a lot of time talking directly with users and potential users--in other words, exactly what you need to do to make sales.
是的,我们确实使用了一些人力去处理这些电话,但另一方面,我们的员工花了很多时间与用户和潜在用户进行沟通。换句话说,为了实现销售你需要做些什么。

In fact, based on our trial period, we modeled a yearly revenue lift in the range of $1 million. It was so successful that we just officially deployed our toll-free number, and have even launched a new sales career track in our company around it.
事实上,在试验期我们模拟了年收入在100万美元范围的收入阶梯。这件事进行的很成功,因此我们开始正式部署免费电话号码,甚至围绕它在公司推出了新的销售方式。

But here's the exciting part: That's just one rope.
激动人心的地方是:这只是一条绳子。

Who knows how many other invisible hangups and outdated conceptions are holding us back? The key, especially for growing companies, is to begin to see those ropes in the first place.
谁知道会有多少其他无形的心理障碍以及过时观念阻碍我们呢?尤其是对于成长中的公司来说,关键是一开始要看到这些绳子。

From my experience growing Hootsuite, here are a few common phrases that indicate you might have an "elephant-and-rope" scenario on your hands:
从我发展Hootsuite的经验来看,这里有一些常见语句,说明你可能遇到了“大象和绳子”的情况。

  ● "We tried this before and it didn't work." So what? Companies evolve; circumstances change. Sometimes, it's worth revisiting a challenge with fresh eyes.
  ● “我们之前试过了,没有成功。”所以呢?公司在发展,环境在变化。有时候,应该换个角度去看待挑战。

  ● "We can't afford that." Guess what? You can now. If the company has been doing things right, your financial resources have likely grown.
  ● “我们负担不起。”猜怎么着?你现在可以负担了。如果公司在做正确的事,你的财政资源应该是增长的。

  ● "That's going to take way too much time." Well, yes, if you put just one or two people on the project. But what if you threw a whole team of experts at it? Then, suddenly, it may seem doable.
  ● “这会花太多时间。”好吧,如果你只在项目上投入一到两个人的话,确实是这样。但如果你把整个专家团队都投入其中呢?然后,你会突然发现这件事是可行的。

  ● "That's just too complicated." Some challenges are complex and will require sustained effort to be solved. That doesn't mean you shouldn't tackle them, especially if you have the resources to do so properly.
  ● “这太复杂了。”有些挑战很复杂,需要持续的努力。这并不意味着你不应该处理它们,尤其是当你有资源有能力去做的时候。

  ● "That will never work." How many promising paths have been abandoned because of this little phrase? This is the consummate elephant-and-rope line.
  ● “这永远不会成功。”由于这句话,多少有前途的道路被荒废了?这是标准的大象和绳子现象。

Sometimes, the blockers are still real and imposing: thick chains that can't be broken. But other times, you'll find a flimsy rope is the only thing holding you back... and all it takes is a nudge to snap it.
有时,阻碍看起来真实且难以攻克:粗重的链条不能被破坏。但其他时候,你会发现一根脆弱的绳子才是阻碍你前进的东西,你只需轻轻用力就能拉断它。

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