Have you ever lost a big contract that had been a cash cow for years?
It’s likely you went through the following…
A) The fear
The customer calls up out of the blue. You knew in your gut something is wrong when you saw their name pop up on your iPhone.
B) Furious anger
You finish up the conversation and manage to stay polite. You give them the usual “We’re always here if you need us” speech whilst cursing under your breath.
You stand up from your office chair and walk to the bathroom where no one can hear you and feel the anger starting to bubble up.
It starts in your toes works it’s way up before boiling over your head as you start to make weird scrunched up faces in the mirror…
C. The silent scream
You then lose it and start screaming but without any noise coming out.
You might even punch the wall but so gently that it doesn’t really hurt or make any noise.
D. Getting composed
You’re ready to leave the bathroom now but you still have to face everyone else. You can’t appear weak in front of them.
You tug on your cheeks, fix your hair and swag your way out of the bathroom like nothing matters to you.
E. Fear of the manager
Then you realise it’s not just you this effects. That easy commission bonus you are going to lose isn’t the end of the world. You can reduce the amount of pizza you order and that is covered.
However you’ve now got to tell someone about it. You have to tell, your boss…
F. Guilty disruption
What if your computer stopped working and so you didn’t know they’d left. What if you just kept their billing cycle open? Perhaps they wouldn’t notice?!
G. Management confusion
You walk up to your sales manager and start to explain that your star client is not doing business with you any more. You half blame slow delivery and issues with the product knowing it’s more likely because you have ignored them for 6 months.
You finish your outburst by saying they said they’d come back if they needed your product again.
Your manager just looks at you confused and you do your best to work out if they’re angry or not.
H. Relief
Either –
1) Your boss explains that it’s going to be OK. Your pipeline is healthy and customer churn is all part of doing business.
Business shrink and grow all of the time, your clients too. Sometimes they just don’t need us any more.
2) Your boss explains that you’re an idiot for not using your power of future projection and telepathy to predict the situation and sleep with the buyer to tie them in emotionally.
That is what they would have done. Now you’ve ruined his commission bonus and the whole office hates you.
You’re relived though because you didn’t really care what they thought of you anyway did you?
