Themes
Every year I have an overarching theme that I use to as a filter for everything. This year I have two themes and I would like to share how they guide decisions in business. First off, my two themes of 2016 are:
These two themes guide all personal and business decisions. I share these themes with my employees, contractors, family and friends each year so they know where I am coming from.
Historically I would say yes to almost every meeting, client, project and other things that use my most precious resource...time. That changed this year.
Themes in action
I was interviewing a potential customer for our business last week and realized immediately that we were not going to be a good fit for each other. Awesome guy, awesome company, but I could tell that he may not let us dig in and kick a$$ for him. Kind of like a patient who wants to be involved in conducting the surgery...not happening.
This would have been a $10K-$15K engagement for the service side of our business but I knew it would have cost us way more in mental fatigue and employee morale....so I said "no."
The key to saying no gracefully to a customer or anyone is to then offer another solution. In this case I was honest and told them why we wouldn't hire him as a client. Then I gave him some resources that could help him...our competition. Furthermore I offered to review the work of the top two companies he may partner with. This will take me 10 minutes max.
Results
"No" creates time for the things worthy of your focus.
Every year I have an overarching theme that I use to as a filter for everything. This year I have two themes and I would like to share how they guide decisions in business. First off, my two themes of 2016 are:
- Abundance
- If it is not a "hell yes", then it is a "no." - borrowed this from Derek Sivers
These two themes guide all personal and business decisions. I share these themes with my employees, contractors, family and friends each year so they know where I am coming from.
Historically I would say yes to almost every meeting, client, project and other things that use my most precious resource...time. That changed this year.
Themes in action
I was interviewing a potential customer for our business last week and realized immediately that we were not going to be a good fit for each other. Awesome guy, awesome company, but I could tell that he may not let us dig in and kick a$$ for him. Kind of like a patient who wants to be involved in conducting the surgery...not happening.
This would have been a $10K-$15K engagement for the service side of our business but I knew it would have cost us way more in mental fatigue and employee morale....so I said "no."
The key to saying no gracefully to a customer or anyone is to then offer another solution. In this case I was honest and told them why we wouldn't hire him as a client. Then I gave him some resources that could help him...our competition. Furthermore I offered to review the work of the top two companies he may partner with. This will take me 10 minutes max.
Results
- The prospect appreciated our honesty and really appreciated our offer to help them with an alternative.
- That same day we said yes to a similar opportunity with a much better customer.
"No" creates time for the things worthy of your focus.
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