Not that long ago I worked in a business where we were struggling to make our numbers. This was compounded by the fact that quite frequently we would bring an opportunity to the bid decision point, and we were told “No, because…” The reasons varied and it became quite frustrating. My outlook on life changed the day that we were told we would “No Bid” a certain opportunity. “No bid? Why?” It’s not our standard offering, it will be too expensive, and we can’t deliver in the customer’s requested delivery schedule. That was the third “No” I heard that week. The other two were because there was too much risk. Of course, we were including contingency cost for the equivalent scenario of a single engine Cessna flying at 60,000 ft. Never mind that it’s impossible, we had to plan and cost for that contingency, just in case.
At this point I had enough, so I asked “What if the customer was willing to pay us $100 million and they could wait 2 years to take delivery, would we do it then?” Of course we would, but does the customer have $100M and 2 years? At this point it doesn’t matter. We found a condition on which we would bid it, and the “standard offering” thing was just an excuse. We bid the job on the conditions that we could deliver under, and we got the order.
So why did this change my life? Because I moved from being a “No, because…” person to a “Yes, if …” person. In fact, this has become my mantra at work. I took it to my new job, and I think people may be tired of hearing me say it. But I find that in the 18 months of my asking for a “Yes, if…” scenario, the work environment has improved. If I find someone that takes this attitude without my prompting, I’ll make sure to send them an email thanking for their support, and their desire to find a way to get business. I’ll probably even copy their manager.
I’m trying to bring this to personal life as well. That’s a bit harder, but I think it’s worth the effort. So now I ask you, which person are you? Are you “No, because…” or “Yes, if…”?
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