The Simple Way to Increase Your Odds of Success
This week was going very well until a nightmare final day.
In my consulting and agency business, everything was going to plan and building nicely. I had won some new business for one of my clients, and long-term projects had received some positive news.
Then, all of a sudden, on Friday, one of my clients had to cancel a bunch of orders. This was bad enough, but to make the day even worse, one of my major clients called me to break the news that they wouldn’t be moving forward with the project that I was set to start next week.
I want to break down how I’ve remained positive in the face of these challenges, and what it’s reminded me about the simple way we can all increase our odds of success.
✚Remembering the Positives Still Happened
To remain positive in the face of disappointment, I had to tell myself that the positives over the rest of the week still happened.
I controlled what I could by managing new client acquisitions and moving projects forward successfully. The fact that one of the businesses I work with failed to fulfil their end of the transaction is not a reflection of my own work.
As long as you control what is in your power, it is possible to remain confident in your own abilities.
If you have succeeded once, you have the skills to succeed again in the future.
📝Get Official Confirmation
There is a key takeaway from my major client that cancelled their business a week before commencing work. Until your client has officially signed their agreement, you leave yourself open to cancellations.
I have worked with this customer for 7 years, so I was relying on an element of trust, which was my undoing. When they verbally said that the work would be mine, I believed them, because there was a level of history. However, a change in the company’s approach to the project has left me vulnerable.
The important lesson is that even when you trust someone or a company, a deal isn’t done until you have something in writing. Plus, by putting the right wording in the contract, if they go back on the agreement, you can be entitled to compensation from them.
There is also a simple way to increase your odds of success.
🥳Increasing the Odds of Success
In my scenario, I trusted a company enough to rely on verbal confirmation of work, only for them to back out last minute.
No matter who you’re dealing with, until you have a written agreement, know that you are vulnerable.
The way around this is to increase the number of shots you take. If we take my example, I knew that this major client would have filled my remaining availability from September to December. For this reason, I held off contacting other companies that I knew might be looking for my services.
The right way to have handled the situation would have been to push for written confirmation from my client, and when they refused, you pursue other options. It is not a wise decision to pressure a client into signing with you if you don’t have a backup. Instead, make a list of the “shots to take”, whether that’s an email or phone list. Then put yourself out there to have something lined up.
Remember to keep a log of the emails and calls you make. Not only is this important for tracking, but gives you the historical data on how many emails/calls it took to get follow-up meetings, and sign new clients.
With every email or call you make, you are increasing the odds of success. This means the more effort you put in, the greater your return is likely to be.
It really is that simple!
The end result will be that you can put pressure on clients to provide formal agreements for your work, or go somewhere else. What we want to create is a high demand for our services, which, over time, can mean that our premiums increase and we charge more for our work.
💭Closing Thoughts
A week with lots of positives that ends with a very bad day can feel overwhelming. That’s why starting with a reminder of what went well is important to retain confidence.
There are always lessons and reminders after defeat, and for me, this was to increase my odds of success by taking more shots.
If you have had to overcome challenges in your business or creative pursuits, I would love to hear from you.
For more insights like this, delivered to your inbox every week, be sure to subscribe.