(An Open Letter To My Ex!)
So, you get a new client, wow. Everything is really exciting, you are being paid exactly what you asked for and your first job is exhilarating. And the next job goes really well too, in your eyes.
But then…nothing.
Zilch, diddly squat. You never hear from your shiny new client ever again.
The honeymoon period is over before it even began.
What went wrong?
Let’s go back a little shall we. To your first job. The one that you under promised and over delivered on, the one you stayed up until the early hours to get it absolutely perfectly right; the big deal.
You remember that right?
And now, what about the second task? Well, that was kind of the same as the first one and you thought you had it down pat. There wasn’t really any need to over exert yourself as the first job was the test, the big deal right?
Wrong!
Every job is a big deal. Remember, you are only as good as your last job.
And that is why your client went walk about.
And how do I know? Because I was that client. I so wanted to give you more work, to partner up with you, to develop a two way mutually beneficial relationship of excellence. And quite frankly, it disappoints me greatly that this has happened.
I felt used and neglected. You just didn’t care enough the second time around.
You didn’t deliver on time and didn’t even forewarn me this would happen. No communication, no explanation, no nothing. And when you did deliver, it was like a stale lukewarm pizza without the special extra topping I wanted.
Yes, the first task was important; it was to set you up for all the other bigger important ones. Okay, so perhaps the 3rd and 4th or maybe even the 16th would have been excellent, but I need total consistency at all times.
Because when you let me down, I then need to let my clients and customers down. When you provide work which is not your best, I have to pass that on, and my work suffers (along with my reputation).
I want your 100% attention to my project. Don’t worry; I don’t want 110%, as there isn’t actually such a thing. That is just a phrase people use which means nothing.
But I mean something, I am your client and as such I treat you with trust and respect.
Get it right and we all prosper. But cut corners and the wheels will fall off and when that happens we all crash together.
That’s why consistency counts.
Every. Single. Time.
“Courage is being scared to death…and saddling up anyway” ~ John Wayne.