Pitching a $10M Client

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Hey, hope you're well.Here's your digest for this week. Hope you find these, inspiring and encouraging.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

I pitched a $10M Client

(approximately 6 min read)

Here’s an interesting story from 2 weeks ago.A friend of mine and fellow business owner hit me like “Yo….I think I have a lead for you…they’re looking for email marketing services”.This is what every business owner wants - inbound leads.Once he gave me the info and made the necessary intro, I came to find out this wasn’t just any company.This was an 8 figure company. Meaning, they make $10M+ a year.As I researched more on the company (to prepare for my pitch meeting), I literally felt an increasing sense of doom.It’s as though the more I learned about the company’s size, the smaller I got.Panic, Fear, and anxiety firmly settled in.My heart racing and mind pacing, I repeatedly thought to myself, “I am in noooo way qualified to serve these guys”.(Keep in mind that I have worked with companies of this size before).“I’m a fraud, and they’re gonna find out”“What can I possibly do to help them…they clearly already know more than I do”, and so on.As I said earlier, it’s not like I haven’t worked with a company of this size before, it’s just that I haven’t done so as the leader of the entire operation.I’ve worked with other leaders on similar-sized accounts, so I technically have the experience and knowledge of how to serve such a client.The only difference here (if it matters) is that this would be the first time I was “the boss” - strategizing, managing the team, taking full responsibility and accountability etc.So even though I have the experience, in that moment, my brain was in full imposter syndrome mode - remember when I said in this video, it doesn’t go away? Yea!So what did I do?First, I spoke to my #1 help - my wife.(“He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.” - Prov. 18:22. Yay! Praise Jesus for a great wife 😅)She reminded me of my previous experience, then proceeded to remind me of something else I had forgotten in that moment. She asked, “Do you know anyone who can help you?”Such a simple question, but it was exactly what I needed.I remembered that I do in fact, have another friend who has functioned as a sort of mentor in this arena of my life - my digital marketing business.I got on a call with him and vomited all my fears and insecurities to him.But within a few short minutes, like all good mentors he; addressed my concerns, reminded me of my competences and filled in some important gaps in my knowledge. At the end of our short call I had a Gameplan and was feeling much more confident.I proceeded to have the meeting the the potential client.To be clear, I was still a little nervous but I no longer felt overwhelmed and more importantly, knew that my team and I could actually deliver quality service to the client, if I was able to convince them to work with our company.This process taught me a few things;

1.) The Power of Community & MentorsNo matter what you do in life, you need a community of others doing the same thing.More specifically, within that community you need people who are slightly ahead of you.When my relationship with my former music record label soured and disintegrated, I went into a season of “I don’t need anyone”.For the years afterwards I felt like I couldn’t trust anyone and I had to learn (and do) everything by myself.This had the positive effect of making me proactive and quick to learn, but it also had the negative consequence of isolating me and stifling my growth in many ways.I achieved some career progress, but didn’t have anyone close I could look to for help, support and questions when I needed it.In recent years, I’ve been reminded that this is the path to nowhere fast.Confidence is one thing, but it’s simply arrogant to think you can “figure it all out” on your own. Every high achiever is part of communities, think tanks, masterminds, etc.Every high achiever has coaches and mentors who have been where they are.Leaning on their mentors, these high achievers save money and more importantly time.They skip paying a lot of ignorance tax by simply looking at the bill their mentors already paid.In a moment of anxiety and confusion, my mentor saw a clear path that I was blind to.Do you have a mentor?

2.)  Lessons Learned & Confidence BuiltAt this point, even though it would be a big plus to my business, it also kind of doesn’t matter if I get this client.Here’s what I mean.This was also my first time solo-pitching a brand this big.So of course I was nervous.I had previously worked on fulfilling the service for a client of this size, but never on the pitching and sale side.But like all new things, it’s most scary the first time you do it.I went into that meeting nervous but still armed with my Gameplan.And you know what I discovered after that meeting?8 figure brands are run by…..humans.Humans just like me and you. Even at that level of “success” there are things they do not know, that I do.There are capabilities they need that I and my team have.They, like me, are on a quest to keep learning and growing.It was somewhat of a revelation to me.Through this whole process, I also learned new practical skills in sales and negotiation.So even if I don’t officially have the client,  if training on pitching a $10M+ business is all I got from this interaction, I think it was well worth it.The next time I get such an opportunity, I’m more prepared and will probably feel less overwhelmed and more confident.This reminds me of a somewhat cliché but true statement, “The journey is the reward”.In the end, even though the potential client ended up going with another agency, the training and confidence boost from that sales meeting was my reward from this experience.Closing the client would have been a bonus.Alas, there will be more opportunities in the future.

Until next week!

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