How to Stumble Onto Success.

In 2021, I had one of my coaching clients build a bass pond in my backyard. It had always been a lifelong dream of mine to have my own pond. Unfortunately, the builder was not a good communicator. After the pond was built, it became nearly impossible to reach him by phone and he rarely ever answered an email. This not only affected me but also several other clients to whom I had referred him.

It got to the point in 2022 that I needed some help and I could no longer wait to get a hold of him. I made one call to Ryan Schwarz of Schwarz Ponds in Bird-In-Hand, PA, whom I’d found online. He answered his phone on my first call. He gave me confident and valuable feedback and made arrangements to come out and take a look at my pond. He instantly advised me on how to fix an aquatic vegetation problem I had and so I switched over to his company to handle all of my pond maintenance.

In the winter of 2022, when my pond froze over, Ryan recommended that I use a small, electric heater that would always leave one spot unfrozen to allow gases to escape and my fish to survive through the winter. This was a much more convenient solution than the one I got from the original pond builder: Take a pot of boiling water from the kitchen stove, carry it down two flights of stairs on my ice-covered deck, and wait in the freezing cold while the pot sat on the pond’s service and eventually melted through the ice. (After all, what could go wrong with that plan!)

Not long after I started working with Ryan, another client (whom I’d introduced to the original pond builder) called me to find out if I had heard from the builder. Apparently, my other client couldn’t find him either. I put him in touch with Ryan Schwarz and the next thing I knew, Ryan was taking care of that property as well.

The point I’m trying to make is this: Your competitors are going to drop the ball. Whether or not you stumble onto success is up to you. When you see an opportunity to help someone in a bind, be super- responsive and make sure that you put your best foot forward. You never know who the person you’re helping knows and how much additional business you could be gaining by making a great, first impression and then following it up with great service every single time.

“Success is about taking advantage of opportunity.” – Mike Ditka

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from my 5-part series entitled The Sales Academy. I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Zoom presentation of The Sales Academy program, which will be held on five consecutive Friday mornings on October 6, October 13, October 20, October 27, and November 3, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.