Own Up

We're not perfect, we all make mistakes.  What we do with those mistakes determines the final outcome........long-term damage, or negative turned positive.  In sales, it's not different.  I make mistakes everyday, and will make more tomorrow.  Mistakes are not OK, but addressed and corrected mistakes are.  The defitition of a mistake is different to all of us.  In many cases, we get to determine what is a mistake and what is not, and we will justify our position accordingly.

As a sales person, it is not my goal to convince a client to trust me with their business, execute, and be done with it.  It is my goal to gain a clients trust with business, execute, and provide such a positive experience in the overall process that the client will want to trust me with all future business opportunities.  To set the bar to such a high standard that my competitors will have no choice but to fall short if given the opportunity, this is my goal.  When I don't meet this goal, I can generally point to a specific mistake that I made during the process.  Learning from and correcting those mistakes plays a big role in my growth.

Specific to my day today, I took personal ownership in a past mistake, which has left one of my clients with a bitter taste.  My past mistake has put future trust and future opportunities with this client in question........and for good reason.  In a "too-little-too-late" circumstance, I approached the client and let them know that the circumstances experienced were of nobodys fault but mine.  My mis-management allowed the circumstance to escalate to the point of a bad experience.  It was not my hope to earn back future opportunities, as that type of trust takes far more to earn back.  It was not my intention to list challenges faced that were out of my control.  It was only my intention to apologize for the grief caused, to identify that my mistake was at the core of the issue, and to express my regret in how I handled the situation.  I ended by telling the client that I'm better than that, and that I'm sorry that I didn't prove it when given the opportunity.

This initiation of owning up to a mistake was one that I don't have a lot of practice in, and that the client was appreciative of.  I felt that we both sensed a relief from the conversation.  I don't know if I'll ever get the opportunity to work with this client again, but I do believe that the client would answer my phone call or honor a meeting request.  I can say that in full confidence I will not let that mistake happen again.

I disregard many of the mistakes that I make, and discount them as "no harm done."  I learned a lesson in this process...........that no mistake should go unaddressed, as they each present a learning opportunity.  And, the best way to address the mistake is to own up, and set the expectation and accountability that it will not happen again.

**  I see a lot of celebrities in airports, and I'm not really in awe of the celebrity.  But, I am very interested in how they carry themselves when traveling with common-folk.  Do they try to blend in, or try to isolate themselves?  Do they give off a "greater-than-thou" stigma?  This morning I was in the airport Starbucks line with Kevin McHale.  Other than the fact that he is super tall, I would have never noticed him in a crowd.  He seemed like a very nice, very normal guy.