Success is doing what's right, win or...
We had a meeting last week with a brand we really admire. The purpose of the meeting was to vet our company as a potential marketing partner. Although this opportunity came from word-of-mouth the interesting thing is that we had created a list of brands that we want to work with at the beginning of the year and this company was high on the list. In short, we really wanted this gig. We like the company, we like the brand, and we love their product.
In years gone by we would have gone into this meeting and "sold our socks off," but we didn't.
So what changed?
We have, our first purpose in the meeting was really getting to know the owner better and understand what it was he wanted to accomplish, and what he was really looking for in a partner. He asked a lot of questions, but so did we and ultimately it was a good lunch and a great discussion.
We left there completely relaxed about the opportunity, don't get me wrong we still want the gig, but more importantly, we want the owner to get the right partner. If it's not us that's all right and we discussed why we felt that way later in the day.
This is what we came up with...
We were ourselves. We let the person with whom we met know who we are, what type of work we do and completely showed our authentic selves. We have learned, painfully at times, that if you over present, overstep, or over commit it will come out, and that if you present what you think the prospective client wants rather than what you really are the relationship will ultimately fail.
We preach authenticity for our clients all the time. We want them to embrace that concept in all they do, and we have found out over time, it works for us. We feel better about how we discuss our successes and failures and it leads to very strong relationships over time.
We don't know how this will turn out, but leaving a meeting feeling you put everything on the table that the prospective client needed was pretty great. Now he gets to make the best decision for his company which after all is all we want.?
Post Script
We did not get the project, but we are delighted they are moving forward with their plans and we will still be fervent consumers of their offerings.