#121: Take One For The Team

“Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people.”
–David Sarnoff, founder of NBC

In This Issue:

Take One For The Team
by Krista Jones

I’ve played competitive sports for most of my life. I’m especially fond of volleyball and basketball, playing both into college and beyond.

While I enjoyed winning just as much as anyone else, my college basketball coach didn’t think I was as competitive as I should be.

You see, unbeknownst to me, I used to literally wear my love of the game on my face. My coach would yell at me as I ran up and down the floor to wipe the smile off my face. At 5′11″, I played the center position and she wanted me to look mean and intimidating to our opponents. Sorry coach, I couldn’t quite pull that one off.

Another thing that drove her to distraction was my lack of a killer instinct. Whenever our team was up by 20 or more points, I would let up just a little. Unlike a few of my teammates, I didn’t feel the need to kick the other team while they were down.

I carried my not-so-competitive attitude into the business world. I used to write promotion letters for my peers and speak up for my co-workers in client meetings when they couldn’t think of an appropriate response to a question.

And when I owned a pet-sitting company in the middle 90s, I would refer my clients to my “competitors” when my company’s schedule was too full to serve them. Some of my friends said it was a mistake to steer clients to other pet sitters, but I always believed there was more than enough business for us all.

Up until the fall of 2002, I thought I was an expert at helping and working with others. However, when I met successful copywriter Catherine Cairns (check out CP Issue #118 to read an essay from Catherine), I realized just how much I still had to learn on the subject. Here’s what happened…

I had just landed my first assignment with my dream client, Nightingale-Conant. Problem was, I was still pretty green at copywriting. And with three other copywriting deadlines looming, I was terrified that I would blow my one and only chance to prove that I could be an asset to Nightingale.

Then I remembered reading about Catherine’s successes with Nightingale. I did a little research, found her e-mail address, and shot her a message asking for a few tips.

I was utterly shocked by the response I received.

Catherine sent me an e-mail that detailed each step I should take to prepare for writing the package. She also forwarded a completed Copy Platform for one of her Nightingale projects, a few of her own promotions, and assorted other tips and strategies for creating a winning promotion.

Instead of seeing me as competition and worrying that I would take something away from her if my promotion performed well, Catherine was incredibly generous in sharing all of her personal success secrets.

If you were in Catherine’s shoes, would you be so willing to open your heart?

If so, you would be doing one of the best things you could to enjoy big-time success in this business—and in life. I say that because there are more than enough opportunities, clients, and money to go around. But when you think competitively, you restrict the flow of those things to you. However, if you approach your business with a different mindset, you can not only get what you want, but everyone involved can end up with more than they have now.

Thanks to people like Catherine and the work I’ve done with Nightingale-Conant for the past five years, I now know something that I once only believed: When you think collaboratively and open your mind to other possibilities, the things you want will come to you just as fast as you are ready to receive them.

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Reader Feedback: The Results Are In

Last week (CP Issue #119), you read about Mindy’s awkward situation as she met a client for coffee. Mindy arrived before her client and already had a cup of coffee when he arrived. She graciously offered to buy him a cup, and then later wondered if she had acted appropriately.

So I (Krista) asked for your feedback on the proper etiquette when in this situation. Here is a summary of what you sent:

Most agreed that, given the situation, they would have done the same thing as Mindy—offered to buy the client a cup of coffee. However, it’s clear that meeting clients for coffee, lunch, or other “events” can be a sticky situation.

Some firms have strict policies about accepting “gifts”—including a cup of coffee—from vendors. However, it is the client’s (the person who is bound by the policy) responsibility to let the other party know he or she can’t accept the offer. One way to avoid this potentially awkward situation is to  meet clients only at their office or similar locations.

When no restrictions are imposed by the employer, the traditional gender-neutral rule is, “who invites, pays.” If you’re the invitee, you should offer, not demand, to pay.

Thanks so much for all of your feedback. I’m sure other freelancers will find it helpful.

Before I close, I thought I’d share one reader’s innovative approach to closing a sale by doing the opposite of what might be expected when meeting with a client:

“In later years I learned that it was a smart move to reverse the otherwise typical gratuity situation. He who gives to another often gets a sense of obligation to give even further. One of the biggest sales I ever made was to a doctor who had permission to purchase or lease a large piece of medical equipment. He was an impatient and very terse, hard-to-sell sort of guy. He kept me waiting for several hours as he did whatever chores he was about. Suddenly it came to be time for lunch. He reminded me of that in such a way as to make me believe he wanted me to take him to lunch and pay for the deal. I thought that I might get a lot more out of him by reversing the procedure. I told the doctor that I had not brought enough money with me that day to buy much of a lunch. He gave me a funny look and said, "OK, I guess that I can pay for both of us if we eat in the hospital cafeteria. We did. He had a plateful of something and I asked for and got a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a small carton of milk. Those cost the doctor about 50 cents or so. I explained to him that peanut butter and jelly sandwiches always brought me good luck, with nice sales to follow the eating of them. When we returned to his office after lunch, he signed the sales order.”