Tough times at work. They happen; that’s a given. And it’s absolutely crucial that you be prepared. Let’s consider, for a moment, a worst-case scenario.
Maybe the contract with your company’s biggest customer is coming up for renewal, and everyone in the office is on edge. You have co-workers whose jobs are at stake. Your job also is on the line. There have been lots of management meetings, strategy sessions and even prayer chains in the office. The situation could not be more serious. But you’re hopeful. After all, you have the contract currently, and you’ve had it for several years.
Pitch day comes, and there are four other companies vying for the contract. A week later, you are one of the final two vendors under consideration. You pitch again, answering even more questions, and the customer says they’ll make a decision by Friday.
Then Friday comes, and the news is not good. You realize this when you see your devastated manager leaving the company president’s office. This is not what any of you hoped for nor expected, but the customer is going with the competition. On Monday, management calls everyone in for the dreaded layoff talks, and you are on that list of people to be laid off. All because everything was riding on this one big client.
I think many of us have been involved with significant losses at work. It could be a big client, the loss of a key executive or employee, the closing of a branch office or major downsizing of a company.
A Positive Attitude Isn’t Everything
There are a couple of ways to deal with retaining a big client or even an essential employee. As in the worst-case scenario above, everyone was hoping nothing would happen to the business relationship. The approach was to simply stay the course, keep attending to the client’s needs with exceptional service and hope to retain the contract for years to come.
While that’s positive, it’s not really a strategy.
Of course, you should always and absolutely provide exceptional service (whether a contract renewal is due or not), but you also need to be practical about the longevity of the relationship. You must realize that all things have a season—including business relationships. The season is different for every situation, but seasons always change. You might have a big client for one, five, ten or even 30 years, but I guarantee you one thing: Your “season” with that client will eventually end. It has an expiration date, but, of course, it’s impossible to know that exact date.
That’s why you need to be prepared for it. Right now.
Plan for Change
In other blog posts, I’ve suggested thinking of a business relationship as something you “rent.” It’s likely temporary—even if the rental period spans decades.
I coach leadership to have a two-pronged approach to handling a big, important client. First, always provide extraordinary service. Second, assume that your season with this client will end, and establish a strategy for replacing that client before the season ends.
In a perfect world, you’d have a new client to replace the outgoing client. In an even more positive scenario, the current client stays and you end up with two major clients. That’s more wealth but also more risk. You’ll need to operate with a plan to possibly replace two big clients at some point.
This idea of seasons also applies to key employees. Assume your season with your current industry thought leader or “rainmaker” could be ending soon. Begin developing new talent in your company. Or begin making a list of industry-leading candidates in your market whom you might hire. Start a dialogue with them. Stay in touch. Talk to them at an industry conference. Think seriously about starting a new season with them.
Roy Bean said, “Time will pass, and seasons will come and go.” Seasons change, and so should we. Approach multiple areas of your work—clients and employees—with changing seasons in mind, and you’ll continue to do what you do better.