Inevitably, even the best laid plans go awry. Where you place your focus in the critical moments following a debacle will determine your ability to either move forward or get trapped in frustration. Here’s a story of something that went gut-wrenchingly wrong in my world a few weeks ago.
Will and I came up with a plan to create an exclusive informational sales webinar for some high interest prospects. We thought it would be best to offer it in mid-December, targeting people seeking innovative ideas for the New Year. The content we chose was distilled from a combination of research we’d accumulated over the past year, and some new trends we’d observed with our clients. It was neatly packaged into a 60-minute program identifying 5 key actions for insuring revenue growth in 2017.
Our task list was extensive. First, we needed to enroll suitable attendees, and implement some full-proof logistics to ensure a flawless delivery of the program. Next, we had to identify at least 70 CEOs and obtain their contact info for a mass mailing (old school, via post office). Follow up with personal phone calls to maximize attendance. After a focused 2-week campaign, 24 people signed up for the webinar, which is an insanely high number, and we were ecstatic!
Now the task at hand was to hammer out the logistics. After searching for a suitable webinar platform, we chose to go with a provider we’d used in the past. We took time to re-acquaint ourselves with the system to work out the kinks. Will tackled scripting the program and compiling the slides. The last piece of the puzzle was to find a location to conduct the webinar, and one of our clients offered us the perfect spot in his office building. It was a quiet, well-lit space with a strong internet signal and ample room for us to spread out. At that point, our ducks were lined up and we were ready to roll!
And then…just 5 hours before the program was scheduled to begin, our well-woven plan unraveled. Our server went on the fritz, and Will couldn’t email the necessary log-in information to the participants. Luckily, the issue resolved itself 45 minutes before the program started, and everyone received the information.
The next snag occurred 3 minutes before we were scheduled to go live; we lost our internet connection! We quickly scrambled, logged off, restarted the computer, and with only one minute to spare, we were up and running again. I smiled, tilted the microphone, and send out a warm welcome to the participants:
“Hi folks. I’m Chris Harris and I want to welcome you to our Key Trends & Opportunities for Sales Growth Webinar. We’ll be looking at emerging insights and practical business development strategies in the coming year. I’m going to be the moderator for today’s call, and it is my great pleasure to introduce our resident expert on the subject, Will Turner”.
As Will began speaking, I looked in horror at the computer screen: “Connection Lost.”
I frantically employed every trick I could think of to resolve the issue. I restarted the computer, used a different web browser, I even eventually reloaded the webinar software altogether. We lost a full 10 minutes before finally going live again, and amazingly, 13 people were still on the line!
We apologized profusely and immediately picked up where we’d left off. Will and I smiled at each other because we knew our raw perseverance alone was going to make this whole thing work. And it did work—right up until the dreaded moment when “connection lost” reappeared on the screen. There was no recovery this time. After 15 minutes of futility, we both put our heads down on the table and groaned out loud.
As we sat in silence, looking at each other, the magnitude of what happened set in. We’d just lost 24 prospective CEOs and with that, tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of potential revenue. I thought I was going to vomit.
Undoubtedly, you’ve experienced similar train wrecks in your professional endeavors and are familiar with this kind of frustration. The customary knee-jerk reaction is to perform an autopsy on the situation, analyzing and dissecting everything so as to insure never duplicating the debacle in the future.
Instead, we chose a different course of action which ultimately turned the disaster around. I asked:
“Where is the opportunity in this set-back, and how we can act on it right now.”
This question forced us to get creative with the mess at hand. Rather than bog ourselves down with analyzing everything that went wrong, we got busy recording an audio version of the program, and attached it to an apology email that landed in each attendees’ inbox the following morning. We also sent out an impressive Ebook covering the topics in detail, and so far, the response has been very positive.
So the next time an important client cancels a meeting, or you get a flat tire on your way into work, or you receive an unexpected bill, or your perfectly-planned live presentation blows up in your face, take a moment to discover the hidden opportunity the debacle generated, one which will keep you moving forward through 2017!
P.S. We’ll be offering the webinar again the first of the year, so be on the lookout. We’ll keep you posted!
