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.
坦白說：多年來，我的公司網站上都沒有客戶服務電話。當Hootsuite（國外一個社交媒體管理平臺）起步的時候，只有幾十名員工，我們真的很擔心會被數(shù)百萬用戶的電話所淹沒。

Phone support would have made a lot of sense. And it's not like users weren't asking for it.
通話支持服務很有意義，用戶也有這方面的訴求。

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，我們終于擁有了1000名員工和1500萬用戶，我對我的團隊提出了不可思議的建議：“伙伴們，我想把一個1-888的號碼放在我們的主頁上。”

Their response: "It will never work. Don't you realize what this means? People are going to be calling us all the time."
他們的回應是：“這沒有用。你沒有意識到這意味著什么嗎？人們將無時無刻地給我們打電話?！?/div>

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.
這是一個典型的大象和繩子的情況。關于大象和繩子的古老故事已經傳播了很久，盡管我是最近才聽說的。

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.)
訓練幼象的傳統(tǒng)方法是把它們的一條前腿綁在地上。（毫無疑問，捕捉和訓練幼象本身是可怕的，所以希望這種做法已經過時了。）

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.
因為幼象很小，一條細繩子就夠了。它們起初會掙扎，拉扯繩子。但最終它們意識到無法掙脫，就放棄掙扎。

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.
當然，大象成長的很快。不久之后，這些可愛的小寶寶就會變成龐然大物。但情況是：同樣的細繩子就可以保證它們的安全。它們認為這條繩子依然會困住它們，所以它們永遠不會嘗試掙脫。

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上有一個高贊回答提及了這個事例），對我們都有精神啟示。在商業(yè)上（更別提在生活中），所有隱形的精神繩子都有可能困住我們，即使它們脆弱易掙脫。

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.
我們每次都會根據(jù)特定條件得出一個結論，當事情變化時，我們卻忘記重新審視自己的決定。這會導致我們錯失機會、自我禁錮以及浪費潛能。

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.
由于缺少客戶服務電話，我們表現(xiàn)得像只幼象。不要誤會我的意思，保持高效而靈活的精益創(chuàng)業(yè)精神有其自身的優(yōu)勢。但這是一個明顯的例子，過時的思想阻礙了我們前進。

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.
幸運的是，去年年底，我說服公司對一個品牌做了全新的1-888號碼測試。我們組建了一個由客戶支持、銷售和社交媒體培訓組成的跨職能團隊，以推廣該項目。

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.
我們確保電話接給合適的人。然后，我們去現(xiàn)場，先用一個為期兩天的“壓力測試”找出缺陷，之后進行為期兩周的試驗。

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，天并沒有塌，實際上恰恰相反。每天電話的數(shù)量大概是60通，確實不少，但是沒有壓到我們。

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，我們確實使用了一些人力去處理這些電話，但另一方面，我們的員工花了很多時間與用戶和潛在用戶進行溝通。換句話說，為了實現(xiàn)銷售你需要做些什么。

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.
事實上，在試驗期我們模擬了年收入在100萬美元范圍的收入階梯。這件事進行的很成功，因此我們開始正式部署免費電話號碼，甚至圍繞它在公司推出了新的銷售方式。

But here's the exciting part: That's just one rope.
激動人心的地方是：這只是一條繩子。

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.
誰知道會有多少其他無形的心理障礙以及過時觀念阻礙我們呢？尤其是對于成長中的公司來說，關鍵是一開始要看到這些繩子。

From my experience growing Hootsuite, here are a few common phrases that indicate you might have an "elephant-and-rope" scenario on your hands:
從我發(fā)展Hootsuite的經驗來看，這里有一些常見語句，說明你可能遇到了“大象和繩子”的情況。

? ● "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.
? ● “我們之前試過了，沒有成功?！?/strong>所以呢？公司在發(fā)展，環(huán)境在變化。有時候，應該換個角度去看待挑戰(zhàn)。

? ● "We can't afford that." Guess what? You can now. If the company has been doing things right, your financial resources have likely grown.
? ● “我們負擔不起?！?/strong>猜怎么著？你現(xiàn)在可以負擔了。如果公司在做正確的事，你的財政資源應該是增長的。

? ● "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.
? ● “這會花太多時間?！?/strong>好吧，如果你只在項目上投入一到兩個人的話，確實是這樣。但如果你把整個專家團隊都投入其中呢？然后，你會突然發(fā)現(xiàn)這件事是可行的。

? ● "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.
? ● “這太復雜了。”有些挑戰(zhàn)很復雜，需要持續(xù)的努力。這并不意味著你不應該處理它們，尤其是當你有資源有能力去做的時候。

? ● "That will never work." How many promising paths have been abandoned because of this little phrase? This is the consummate elephant-and-rope line.
? ● “這永遠不會成功?！?/strong>由于這句話，多少有前途的道路被荒廢了？這是標準的大象和繩子現(xiàn)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.
有時，阻礙看起來真實且難以攻克：粗重的鏈條不能被破壞。但其他時候，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)一根脆弱的繩子才是阻礙你前進的東西，你只需輕輕用力就能拉斷它。

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