Take a Chance on Someone
I thought a client was going to leave me today – the one I was most excited about. We met at a retreat, and her dreams are so big, I had to be a part of them. She said that the whole reason she came to the retreat was because of my subject matter, getting your business online.
Shortly after the conference, we scheduled a call and she signed up for my program that teaches list building, branding, and promotion. She was so excited to get started and had me on my toes to set up everything for her to begin.
I Had a Bad Feeling
Today, she put aside all day to work on her modules. Mid-morning I got a message asking for a chat with her. I told her it would be later in the day. I hated to put her off, but I was hosting a webinar. Somehow, I had a bad feeling.
I called her in the afternoon and she explained how she didn’t understand that I wasn’t going to do this for her and that she couldn’t do this technology stuff, even with the tutorials. Sigh. What could I do? I wasn’t going to let her be disappointed with what she chose out of misunderstanding, so I offered her deposit back and to cancel the contract.
She balked at that, though. Somehow she knew that we’d be good together. So, she told me what she really wanted to learn and I decided to create a video to get her started for the deposit amount, see how that went, and we’d go from there.
Okay.
Making it Work
I went ahead and put together something to allow her to do what she longed for. I put it out there for her to retrieve and hoped for the best.
When she got stuck on the download, I knew I had to do a video conference to straighten things out. Just talking on video, screen sharing, and walking through something that was difficult for her made her feel much more at ease.
By the end of the call, she decided to keep me as her consultant and gave me a rave review in a network full of potential clients! I am so grateful.
Whew!
Lessons Learned
My lesson is to make absolutely sure someone understands that I’m an educator through my modules and troubleshooter, and a strategy coach via private coaching calls. There is no done for you service from me. I think everyone can get most of their technology hooked up with a little help and be able to duplicate the process, even if they ultimately hand some of it off to others. We can all be empowered by technology. It’s here to stay and will only get more prevalent.
My client’s lesson, I hope, is that trying something and not getting it right the first time does not mean failure. It means you have to try again. And she did. She not only gave me another chance, but she gave herself a chance.
Take a chance on someone, especially yourself. It’s worth it!
Do you need help with list building, branding, promotion, and more? Click here to work with me!
Meet the Author, Sally Hendrick
As an international, keynote speaker, Social Media Examiner contributor, and Founder of Social Media Traffic School, Sally specializes in target market research, marketing funnels, digital courses, and Facebook advertising strategies.
With 25 years experience as an actuarial statistician, Sally has been turning statistics into stories for companies to adjust and tweak their marketing programs to be effective. While working with solopreneurs and small businesses through her online academy of classes to help them plan their marketing strategies using social media, Sally also helps medium and large size companies create strategic marketing plans and train marketing staff to carry out company objectives. Her methods are used to successfully increase return on investment with social media, as traditional marketing tactics are bringing increasingly less return.
Sally resides in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and 3 daughters. Message Sally on Facebook to get in touch.
Sally, what a very well written blog. I could feel it came from your heart. Even though I am slowly getting things done ( not modules yet) her comments to you did not scare me one bit.
EFT..WOW, Zoe from London taught that to us in Business Revolunationaries.
Quite a demand…
Come follow me, Jan v…lol…talk soon ..going to dinner with family.
Jan