Dressing for Success and New Challenges
Seeing Through the Smoke and Mirrors
Oddly enough, Julie seemed to think the meeting had gone over quite well. The more time we actually sat with her post-meeting to recap, the more she continued to throw around figures and phrases that didn’t make sense in regards to today’s business.
Don’t forget that up until the meeting, we hadnt had much dialogue with her. She had disappeared after the initial discussion of the meeting preparation and then had just shown up for the meeting in our showroom with only 40 minutes left to edit the apparel and visual presentationnot to discuss the business parts of the presentation.
I soon came to find that the successes she touted were from 10 years prior, failing to realize that retail models had most certainly changed in that time.
In addition, the contacts that had helped give her any kind of information werent currently in the industry. And based on how she had treated our hard-working team that had diligently put together an impressive presentation that never got shown, I also wondered if she had every worked collaboratively with anyone or was even capable of putting together anything on her own.
I slowly came to realize that Julie was all smoke and mirrors. I fortunately had the ability to run the presentation the way I had wanted to with the other clients because Julie had other obligations, and I knew that unless I made the changes I felt were necessary, we would have no opportunity to land the business. The rest of the meetings were so much more successful because they were engaging to the clients. We collaborated with them and let them feel like they had the ability to make changes to the apparel line designed to fit their specific needs and that we had our financial information set to todays industry standards.
Don’t Second Guess
We have yet to close this deal, but I now know that I should never second guess what I inherently know about this business. This is very much about collaborating with everyone and empowering the people you bring on to projects to use their skills and improve the end result. If you ask for someone’s help, let them bring their talents to the tabledon’t stifle them. Learn from everyones past successes and failures. Be responsible, committed and respectful of others time and energy.
I may continue to work with Julie, but Im in a much more powerful position knowing that I have success with this project under my belt. As a result, it’s difficult to argue against my ideas. I have to thank her for helping me open my eyes to the realization that my experience is valuable even when it crosses over to other projects that I may not feel 100 percent comfortable taking on.
As a result, I learned I should always trust my better judgment and go into whatever situation with confidence.
Additional articles on the topic:
Go Further Today- Challenge Yourself
Productivity Means Dont Sweat the Small Stuff
Getting Overwhelmed? Catch Yourself Before You Fall
Work With A Difficult Person? Break The Pattern
4 Steps to Manage a Difficult Encounter
Dealing With Difficult People 4 Reaction Steps
