When you run a small business, it’s fairly common knowledge that things won’t quite go accordingly to plan every day. Few situations are so riddled with unpredictable zigs and zags than wooing new clients. At times, you may find your self looking around the room for hidden cameras, thinking, “This has to be a set up right?” It may be a case of seeing more of someone’s personality than you expected on a first visit. Sometimes, the attire of office personnel may leave your draw dropping, showing a little too much in a different way. So what’s your story?
The best way for any small business owner to learn is often from another owner. It’s the basis of OED: Entrepreneurs helping entrepreneurs. In this case, we want to hear in what first meeting nightmare did you find yourself stuck, what ran through your mind, and out of curiosity… what happened to the sale? Share your story—give us all a laugh, maybe teach us a thing or two, and be the Friday Featured Small Business receiving online media post and a week’s worth of promotion!
Need an example to pull out the memories you may have suppressed? Here’s mine:
About fifteen years ago, not long after launching my business, I was referred by a client to one of his friends. I was told they were a B2B company formed by the father about twenty years prior. As the sons had grown, they were taking the company over. My client mentioned there was “a little tension” sometimes.
“A little tension? I can handle that,” I thought. What I didn’t expect was being placed physically between the brothers, who each had very different views and visions of the business (classic ops & sales conflict) and who each had yet to outgrow the sibling bickering I see now in my ten and twelve year old. I was between two men in their 40’s who literally started fighting over every insult that ever passed between them (who had the bigger bar mitzvah? Thirty years later, still stinging?). Did I mention this was not a full LBAP meeting over major company issues? Not even a full marketing consult? I was being asked in to look at sales literature. It was just a “one brochure meeting,” and within sixty minutes I was watching two men come to blows… in their suits and all. I could only imagine Thanksgiving at their house. Their father, the President still at that point, came in to the room to diffuse I thought, but only made it worse. It seemed he like the competition between his sons, and felt it would push ops to stay on top AND sales to stay on top as he picked his successor. Oh yeah, that was healthy.
I knew then and there I couldn’t function in a hornets nest of emotions (and shoving) like that. The beauty of self-employment is you can be picky at times. While the work would have been great, it got so out of hand I just wanted to leave and then graciously thank my client for the “unique” referral. It was as I was getting my coat on that they realized I was sincere about leaving. All three were stunned and looked at me. The father, not happy with his sons or me at that point, snidely commented if I was too much of a lightweight to handle conflict, then I wasn’t the right person for them.
I refused to be baited into the skirmishes by the swipe. I also didn’t want to do anything that would reflect back on my client who referred me. I looked at the three of them and said, “I can deliver great marketing materials, but I’m not a family counselor.” For the first time they were each silent and STAYED silent. I told them what I would do, how we could proceed. But I also told them what I wasn’t willing to sit through- ever- whether on the clock or not. It was like a Mexican standoff in a movie, all of us waiting to see who would blink. And then, the father blinked. He asked me for a proposal ASAP, shook my hand and left the room. I am happy to report that I they were a 10yr plus client until they relocated from the area and sold.
I later found out via my client that both the sons and the father were so stunned I was willing to walk out and then REALLY do it. They were so used to people (mainly cowering employees) putting up with the antics, they hadn’t had someone say to all three of them simultaneously how out of control they were. Moral of the story: Stick up for your own professional standards, and don’t let the insanity suck you in. I stuck to my guns, nearly walked, and ended up with a very profitable and very long term relationship.
So now, it’s your turn. What was the craziest setting you ever found yourself in, and what happened? Tell us, and be OED’s Friday Featured Business.
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