A Test of What's Right

The prospective customer wants (demands) to meet tomorrow.

The above sounds like something good. It can be. But what if your team is not available? What if they are serving a customer, a paying customer of yours? What if meeting tomorrow won't allow you the time to prepare?

This happens every day. We want to succeed, we want to respond. Most of the time that's the way to think. But sometimes it's a test. A test of what is right.
Do you forsake your loyal customer for a prospective one?
Do you put the wrong team or wrong product in front of the customer just because they want that?

It's tough, but it's a test, nonetheless. Why work with a customer that doesn't want you to honor your relationships? If you politely demand to have the right team or the right product be available at the right time and that prospect rejects you, then they've flunked the test.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & beyond
www.labov.com

Motorcycles in the Rain

I was nervous and excited. I had never ridden a motorcycle before, but was determined to learn how. So, I enrolled in a course and took classroom as well as actual riding instruction. At the end of the course, I was to be tested, both in the classroom (a written test) and on the course (a skills test). It was pass/fail. The last day, they handed me the written test and I passed. Then it was time for the riding test...and all of a sudden, we had a torrential downpour. I thought, surely the class will be postponed or canceled. Nope. The instructor said, "Put on your rain gear, let's go ridin'."

In that downpour, I learned something: you can actually ride a bike in the rain and the wind. While I will never wish for bad weather, I will never fear riding in the rain (as long as I do it safely, of course) again.

I applied this to our clients' businesses and my business. We've long feared a recession or economic depression (I grew up hearing my dad talk about the Great Depression) and well, now we're experiencing a pretty tough one. But we know now that we can make it through and that we'll be better for it. No more fearing a recession, we've been there, done that.

If your business is healthy during these conditions, you've passed the test.


Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
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