Losing with… Nasty swamps and…

Losing with … grace and class

There’s nothing quite as upsetting as losing a good customer. That’s especially the case when they’ve been with us for a long time. And it’s even worse if we believe the change was unfair and undeserved. But when it happens, we have two choices.

First, we can be petty, resentful and vindictive. Or we can show grace and class. That better option can be accomplished by telling them how much we appreciate their history of patronage. And also adding that we’ll deliver them service as reliable on the last day as we did on the first.

Oh and that also includes offering to be available for any assistance they might need in the future – just in case they didn’t get that message based on your calm acceptance of the bad news in the first place.

Aside from the matter of showing grace by expressing how appreciative you are for the years they chose you to be part of their business success, there’re some practical reasons to leave the scene on good terms.

First the new supplier might just disappoint them, and you want to be the first name on their list if that happens. And even if that desirable outcome doesn’t come to pass, you want to keep that door open for the future.

Next up: The deal we’d like vs. the one we’d take.

Nasty swamps and… dangerous distractions

There’s an old saying that rings pretty true for most of us for a lot of our days. It goes, “When you’re up to your butt in alligators, it’s hard to remember that your original objective was to drain the swamp.”.

While it’s emblematic of how we often feel, it’s no excuse for not being focused on our goals.

That unexpected emergency call on the far side of your territory can make a shambles of the day’s work you’d planned. Or you can also handle the emergency and then make the necessary adjustment to the day’s plan and still have a productive day.

Of course that presumes that you have a good coverage plan to fall back on so you can regroup. Or if not, perhaps you simply know who else you might need to service while you’re unexpectedly in that neck of the woods. Do that and you’ve salvaged an otherwise ruined day.

Either way, the goal is to adapt and adjust versus wasting yet another hour driving back to where you started that days’ planned work