A Refusal Often Offends

Call me old-fashioned....
(and if you do I’ll kick you with my winkle pickers)
...but I’m not sure it’s ever a good thing to turn down opportunities with clients.
Any opportunity.
Yes I know there are clients out there that are hard to get on with.
”We’ve pitched seven times and never won. Let’s just cut our losses”
I get that, it’s almost a chemical thing, you just don’t mix.
I’m not talking about those.
I’m talking about the “we’re too busy to do this justice, we’re sorry but we can’t pitch” opportunities.
In my view, if you turn that job down you’ll sully your reputation with that client for about three years.
Or at least until the client team has all been replaced.
The truth is, the position changes with every passing day.
We’ve had several pitches in this week and we’re straining every sinew to get them done.
Suddenly, out of the blue, one has been pushed back by 3 weeks.
Another has been postponed.
It started looking like the week from hell.
Now it’s a lot more manageable.
But just imagine the damage we could have done if we’d been first to turn down one of those opportunities.
We need to project an attitude that “anything’s possible”.
Not “now’s not a good time for us”.
We knew the next few months were going to be tough.
Let’s just get through it with a smile on our face.
Harvest is the hardest time of year for farmers.
But they soldier on because they know that the alternative doesn’t bear thinking about.
Now, it’s my turn to drag the plough.