5 Good Reasons to Get Out Over Your Skis

A dozen intense faces turned toward me. Most were solemn, a few with raised eyebrows. One or two displayed tentative smiles.

“We are leaning toward the idea that each of our locations is going to limit their purchase to a single vendor,” said the speaker. “In other words, we think we should all use the same supplier. That makes this a winner-take-all contest.” He fixed his gaze on me and threw down the gauntlet. “Does your company support that approach?”

I was alone in this meeting of local government agencies. They were debating a planned upgrade to emergency communications technology, and because all four of the entities represented had close mutual-aid ties to one another, they needed to coordinate the separate implementations.

Butterflies gotta butterfly

Ignoring the flock of butterflies suddenly flapping in my gut, I scanned the faces and answered without hesitation: “Absolutely. Using a single vendor automatically ensures compatibility of the systems and allows you to leverage expertise where needed. Also,” I added, stressing the unique benefit that my company could offer, “a single vendor allows your supplier to engage a single implementation team at all four locations. The technicians will each be familiar with the entire network. This gives you an uncommonly strong maintenance and support staff.”

This struck a chord, and there were immediate nods around the room. Our local technicians were our strength, far out-pacing each of our competitors. The sales rep from the head office — that would be me — had no problem standing on their reputation.

I like to think of it as championing, rather than exploiting.

All or nothing

When I told my sales group the next day that this project was an all-or-nothing endeavor, some were skeptical. “Is that a good idea?” one asked. “Wouldn’t we have a better chance to win a couple of these if you had said they should do it piecemeal?”

I studied him, and his teammates glanced back and forth between us, uncertainly. “I don’t want to win these piecemeal,” I said flatly. ”We are going to take all four of them.”

It was a unique situation for our team. We had been savaged by an out-of-state competitor who had picked off low-hanging fruit in the form of local government technology upgrades in places where we had little influence. The losses still stung, for I had been slow to recognize the threat.

Here and now was the place to stop it. The four-fold opportunity would make big news across our entire service territory. Every other customer — and competitor — would take notice.

High stakes.

Life hacks

In any endeavor, success lies on the other side of risk. Here are rules for your success.

1. Nobody cares what you claim you will someday do.

Indulging myself in the growing popularity of podcast hopping, I recently tuned into one on a subject that interested me: Christian mentoring. In particular, I was interested in what discipleship programs other evangelical churches and ministries were offering.

I gave it a good 20 minutes, listening to an earnest pastor explain all the subjects he planned to introduce in his new podcast series. He promised there would be this program, that program, here an interview, there a testimonial; maybe some light preaching mixed in.

He never once got to the red meat. I wanted to reach through my earbuds to him (okay… improbable metaphor) and shake him: Tell me what you ARE DOING to help someone become a disciple!! I don’t CARE how you organize your syllabus!!

I know. I’m too hard on the guy. I applaud his drive to establish an online presence for his ministry. He’s just trying to make it work, but it wasn’t working for me.

2. Past victories build future confidence.

When you win an unlikely contest, self-confidence is built for the next trial.

As a young sales rep, I once picked up the phone and made a call to what was to me a huge, intimidating commercial account. I asked to speak to the company president. The receptionist put me through. I expected the man’s secretary to screen the call, or to be routed to voice mail. But no, the president himself picked up on the first ring.

To be fair, he was probably expecting someone else’s call, but he got me. In a rush, heart pounding, throat dry, I explained who I was and what I wanted to discuss. He agreed to an appointment. Incredible!

I badly mishandled the sales opportunity later, but the small victory of gaining such an audience was an enormous ego boost.

I also learned: The challenges never get smaller, only bigger.

3. No profit ever comes without stress.

It is true in every arena of life: Physical conditioning, advanced degree, business startup, career startup, parenting, music performance, Taekwondo… take your pick. Ease and comfort is the way of poverty.

U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt spoke of this in his well-known “The Man in the Arena” speech, delivered at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;

who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds;

who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause;

who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

4. Make the commitment BEFORE you are ready to deliver the goods.

I know, I know: You want the perfect outline before you begin writing. You want the complete PowerPoint before you make the speech. You want to diagram the story you are going to tell before you utter a word of it.

We have confused diligence with procrastination. Procrastination is borne of pride, because we never want to be seen as unprepared. And pride is that which goeth before destruction.

Here is the life hack that will answer in most situations: Act now, before you are ready. Make the phone call. Accept the invitation. Ask the question. Send the email. Schedule the meeting. Publish the online post.

Let the panic begin to rise as you consider, “What have I done!?” And then, prepare to deliver like your hair is on fire. Let the deadline unleash the creative energy that is your capability.

The world owes you nothing. To make your place in it, embrace the risk.

Winning amid the panic

For my sales team, the days that followed were filled with furious preparation. There were site surveys, customer interviews, studies of communications traffic, innumerable conversations with internal company coordinates.

In the course of time, each customer entity issued their Request for Proposal. We churned out responses.

The all-or-none dimension of this exercise turned up the heat on everyone in our group. That was the beauty of it, and that was the reason we obtained four, separate, signed contracts. Risk brings reward.

Under-promising and over-delivering is time-tested wisdom that will cost you money. Opportunities will evaporate while you chew your pencil and assess the risks. Others will snatch away the prize that was yours.

Rather, try this: Over-promise and over-deliver. Shock the world with your audacity.

In the title I promised 5 good reasons. The above covers only 4. You can think of one more. Put your suggestions in the Comments below.

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PS: If you like this style of writing, you might appreciate the Acknowledgments at the end of my book, Alligator Wrestling in the Cancer Ward. The link below will get you a copy of that single page in exchange for your free subscription to this newsletter. If you are already a subscriber, click the link anyway. (You will NOT get duplicate emails.)

You might particularly like the paragraph that begins: “The nurses, assistants and staff…” (I actually worked on that sentence a long time.) — Curt