Why You Should Embrace Crisis

Don't shy away from crisis. Embrace it. 

A novice salesperson gets nervous and avoids crisis when shit hits the fan. An expert sees the opportunity.

Anyone can be the guy when everything is going well. People's true colors show in times if uncertainty and crisis.

Diving Deeper:

Early on in your sales career, you're going to try to do everything humanly possible to try and avoid crisis.

This makes sense. When you're new and relationship building, you don't want to start things with a massive disagreement. Think about new friend you've developed. It's generally not the best idea to kick off a budding friendship with a catastrophic argument, say talking about politics or religion. That's just not perfect. 

However, as we know, business is different than many personal relationships. And, in business, its not a matter of whether things will go wrong. Its a matter of when.

Referencing the SYSTEMS BIBLE, by John Gall:

Its not a matter of if something will break, but when. 

So, take a second, and have this internal dialog:

Things are going to go wrong. It might be my fault. It might not be. It might be an obvious issue, or it might be something that we didn't see coming. It might be a quick fix, it might be a longer term and more painful situation. 

Either way - I understand this. My client also understands this. 

I’m going to to everything in my power to make this go away. We’re going to make it through, and be strong on the other side. We’re actually going to enjoy a nice steak dinner afterwards and laugh about this damn thing.

But, while we’re knee deep in this thing:

I Promise to resolve the issue. As fast as we can. I promise to mitigate the damage as best as possible while we're having issues, and make my client whole on the back end. 

PRO TIP - ^^^^^^^^ SHARE THIS WITH YOUR CLIENT ^^^^^^^^^

Crisis separates the adults from the toddlers. It's that simple. 

Its easy to be the milk run sales guy/resources expert who can swing by and talk about new technology or take people to lunch and dinner when things are going well. That's easy.

Your client will see your true colors when shit hits the fan. They are going to JUDGE and REMEMBER you and your company based on how you react when things aren’t perfect. When you have to think outside of the box. When the chips are down, how did you treat them? How did you make them feel? Were you still adding value? Or did you leave them high and dry? 

Remember, people are constantly having issues. Systems malfunction and they fail. 

Inexperienced / Novice salespeople crumble during these circumstances. Here are a list of things you want to avoid:

• Blaming everyone else but yourself / your company 

• Taking a long time to respond to emails / phone calls

• Not being completely honest with the client about what is happening on your end

• Not being honest about the realistic timeline 

• Being negative -> not actively pointing out positive situations and potential outcomes 

• Not working in conjunction to fix the issues 

• Making it about them , not US 

Instead, in time of crisis, take a few steps back and think about the opportunity you've been given. 

This is a chance for you and your client to get down in the trenches, TOGETHER!!! How cool, you guys get to fight in the same battle! No better way to see what each other are made of and build camaraderie.

In crisis mode, you gotta be all hands on deck. This includes: 

• A completely open and honest "here is legitimately where we stand meeting" 

  • Our issue 

  • What caused it 

  • Timeline for fixing it

  • Steps we’re taking internally 

  • Possible solutions in the interim 

  • Your thoughts (client thoughts) on this? 

• Daily Communication

  • OVER-COMMUNICATE ALL THINGS 

    • This includes good or bad news 

• Internal Pushing / Escalation 

  • Keep in mind, your team internally does not feel the same pressure you and your client feel

    • Do your best to nicely make them feel your pain

  • CC you manager, and other peoples managers from the beginning 

    • Nothing personal - but this is serious. Everyone needs to know that. 

• Working Overtime

  • This means you might need to be on-sight in an airplane hangar at 6AM. You might need to be on call for a remote communications issue at 10PM. You might need to join a conference call in Asia at 4AM local time. 

    • Do it. Part of the job. Be happy - this is wear you get to earn your stripes 🙂

Its going to take some time, effort, energy, blood, sweat, and tears - but generally, you make it to the other side, and everything is OK. In fact, it’s better.

Granted, while the crisis is going on, all you can think about is doing everything in your power to make it stop. 

But remember, your client is down in the trenches with you. After you've made it through a battle together, your relationship is far deeper than before. 

Think about your personal life. Think about your closest relationships. How often have you had meaningful experiences with those people? Whether it be late nights out on the town, travel abroad, or heated conversations/arguments... These type of experiences are what bring us together! 

Action items for the next time you're in crisis:

1- Embrace it!!! It's an opportunity to show your true colors and actually add real value!

2 - Over - Communicate - with all items/good and bad / internally and externally. Cannot shy away from tough conversations! 

3 - Make it through to the other side, grab a nice steak dinner, and laugh about it 🙂 

Good luck out there!