The Risk That Nearly Cost Me a Client: A Lesson in Trust and Team Building

Every day, we take risks because it's a way of life. It could be in business, education, or even in our daily dealings. We take risks. Tell us about the most recent risk you took. Was it a major one? Did it pay off?”

Hello everyone, Welcome to my blog.

The importance of taking risks in life cannot be overemphasized, as taking risks majorly does two things for any entity, be it a business or an individual. Firstly, if you take a risk and fail, then you will have found out a method of doing something that will not work, and what that does for the entity is it teaches you, and then you are also able to coach or mentor someone not to go that route. Secondly, if you take a risk and you succeed, then it boosts your morale to take other risks.

Taking risks in business is such an important factor when you think about sustainable business growth and scalability, but taking calculated risks is very important because a single mistake can ruin a business that has been around for a while.

So recently I got a call from a one-time client. I say one-time because she patronized my business only once, some time last year. So I get a call from this lady telling me about an event, and based on the capacity of the hall, I needed more hands to do the job.

Also, because I was preparing for my final year project defense, I knew I wouldn't be available to coordinate things as far as the preparation of the hall was concerned in terms of decoration.

During the vendor briefing with the client, a member of the organizing committee of the event, on getting to know that I won't fully be available, suggested a guy, and immediately she did. The manager at the event center also said the guy was good. Long story short, I collected his contact and reached out to him. We talked about the job, and then I gave him 80% payment upfront, and things were set in motion for the job.

A day before the event, we arrived at the venue to work. Since I was working on my project, I couldn't be present at the venue, and before now I had already communicated the client's specifications for the event to him, only for me to get to the venue that evening and the banner, which was installed on the stage, was roughly installed, and I was already so furious about it when the client stepped in, and she was even more furious than I was.

Just for the record, the governor of the state I currently am in was the special guest of honor at the event, so you would agree with me that we couldn't afford any mistakes, especially on the stage. I tried to calm the client down, but she insisted and instructed that that stage be brought down more so for the fact that the guy I contacted, instead of playing calm and thinking of a way forward, was exchanging comments with the lady. This made her more furious and threatened the balance.

I managed to calm her down, and we found an alternative to the banners on the stage, which was to use LED screens, which came at its own expense. During the installation of decorations in the auditorium, there were some specific places the client pointed out for us to remove some things, which I showed to the guy I contacted. He assured me they were going to handle it by morning, and then I left to prepare for my final project defense.

At the end of the day I found out they did notice it, and this made the client withhold some of the balance, which was paid after about two days of pleading on behalf of the team that executed the job for me.

The good thing is at the end of it all I was still able to pay their money in full, but I learned not just to trust people with such responsibilities based on recommendations, and I also have found out that for me to get the best, I have to build my team with all the working ethic I desire and require for effective job performance, and I also have found that the nonchalant attitude and vibe those guys gave has not made me lose that client as well.

This is my response to the #hl-w170e2 contest. Thank you for stopping by.