Have you ever blown a good sale for a bad reason?
I have. We all lose clients once in a while – it’s the circle of life in business – but in this instance I got blindsided. And it hurt. I remember feeling confused and desperate to get them back, but it was too late. I had allowed a competitor to swoop in and take my good-paying client away. How did I let this happen?
All The Right Moves
In a prior life, I was an advertising sales rep whose job was to help clients cross the bridge from traditional to digital marketing. I had a strong account list, made up of some of the bigger spenders in town, and I had a great relationship with most of them.
As a salesperson, I prided myself on never cutting corners.
When I met with clients, I didn’t bring a sales sheet to leave at the front desk with a business card. I came with a pen and paper. I asked good questions, listened to their answers, and returned with a custom program designed to slay their marketing woes.
I eventually stopped withholding my two cents whenever a client made a decision that would hurt the strategy. I saw myself as a guard on watch, marching back and forth at the gates of best practices. After all, clients hold us accountable for results. If they request a change that’s going to weaken the ROI, I felt I owed it to them to say something. But there is a difference between making your concerns known and insisting things are done your way.
Ultimately, this is what got me into trouble.
Signs Of Trouble
Years went by and I was getting increasingly frustrated with my job. Layoffs and cutbacks were decimating our support staff, and I felt like I was swimming against the current at all times: fighting to get in front of clients, fighting to get signatures on contracts, fighting to get the internal support I needed to make each plan a success.
One day I sold a website to a client in the caregiving industry that wanted to revamp their online image and embrace SEO. I was excited. They already had a successful ad program and I could only imagine what we could accomplish in this new phase of their marketing.
Getting their website together was difficult, as the process sometimes can be, but we slowly trudged forward. The client sent me a memo written by a member of their staff, asking me to copy the text and put it on an important page of the site. All kinds of red flags went up in my head.
The memo was written in the worst kind of business-speak, the kind that reads like a modern-day Gettysburg Address. It was also long. Really long. Placing it on a web page as written would surely cause a visitor to bounce in a big hurry.
I voiced my concerns and my contact agreed it was a bad idea, but then a few days later, the request came up again. Her colleague was forcing the issue. I grudgingly put it on the site, but this was only the beginning of my nightmare.
The project was now being managed by a committee of people, none of whom had been a part of the discussions about strategic planning, branding, and sales, except for my contact. The team requested changes daily, and nearly every one of them violated a cardinal rule of web design.
Our carefully planned navigation became messy, the taxonomy unintuitive, the design cluttered and inconsistent. Pages had either too little text or way too much. Any sense of audience was lost.
I tried to keep my head during all of this, but it wasn’t easy. With every new phone call or email I saw our objectives drifting further away, and I fought the good fight every step of the way. I tried to explain why each change was not advisable, and soon, I sensed exasperation on the other end of the line. My client was playing defense on two fronts – the internal committee on one side and me on the other.
They had noted my concerns, but it didn’t matter. They were building the website they wanted, not the one I wanted for them.
When I realized this, I tried to make an about-face and take orders with a smile, but by then it was too late. Someone on the team had another web development company on the line, and before I knew it the staging site was in their hands.
I was crushed, and not just because of the lost revenue. This was one project – certainly not big enough to make a serious impact on my numbers – but it was a failure that cut deeper than lost revenue. I worked hard to get that sale, only to let it slip through my fingers.
What was the take-away from all this?
Know When To Speak Up, And When To Stand Down.
It’s important to take a principled stand when a project takes a wrong turn, but it’s equally crucial to know when to move on. You are the expert. Site examples from your experience and knowledge and go on record to explain how the issue may impact the outcome the client has asked for. Sometimes they will take your advice, other times they won’t. Digging in on every decision will not help you.
Work With One Contact Only.
Trying to please a committee of people is almost impossible on any large project. It’s not unreasonable to ask to work with one contact who will manage the feedback and expectations from other stakeholders. You’ve got enough to worry about without getting conflicting directions from several people, all of whom have an equal voice at the table.
Don’t Lose The Joy Of Building Something Useful.
You can’t love your job when everything feels like a struggle.
It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in or what project you are managing, don’t sweat the little things. Take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy the ride. If the fundamental requirements are met, chances are good the end result will be okay. Regardless of whether my former client got the sales-producing website they wanted at the beginning of the process, I’m sure they ended up with one they liked.
Sometimes that’s the best outcome you can hope for. Sometimes it’s enough.
