Episode 129, What to do when you hit a brick wall with a client!

Simplify Your Sales and Business meetings. Lisa Thal is an Author, Speaker, and Business Coach. She has over 34 years of marketing, sales, and leadership experience. She wrote the book "Three Word Meetings."  Lisa coaches leaders on simplifying sales and business meetings with fun and interesting 3-word  topics to get your sales team motivated and inspired.

 

Episode 129, What to do when you hit a brick wall with a client!

 

This week is about taking action when you face a situation that seems impossible. 

 

Let me ask you a question? Have you ever felt like you hit a brick wall with a prospect or client?

 

Or worse, What about when the brick wall gets knocked down, and you have to rebuild it! The brick in my example represents your business!   

 

The new year is coming and, at times, can feel overwhelming and impossible. Right? Many of you are thinking, how will I bill more than I did this year? Others are thinking about clients going away and not renewing for many reasons. It takes so much emotional energy when you start a new year. A lot is up in the air. 

 

Will my client continue?  

Will they renew with a lift in spending?  

How many clients will go away, and will I need to replace them with a new business?   

 

I want to share a simple strategy you can apply that I learned from Will.

 

I listened to Will Smith's new book – "Will" - The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I had many takeaways and lessons to help my life and business.

 

One lesson that I thought I would share with you today.

 

Will shares that One of those life lessons that impacted him is a story he tells from his childhood growing up in West Philadelphia about building a brick wall. Yes, an actual brick wall. He was 11 years old, and his father needed a new wall constructed in front of his shop: a 12-foot-high, 20-foot long wall to replace an old one that was crumbling. His father—assigned the job to Will and his brother, Harry. First, His Father demolished the old wall, leaving this giant gaping hole. Then, it was up to Will and his brother Harry to build a new one, brick-by-brick.

 

Will describes that task. He says it seemed overwhelming and endless. And their father didn't care if it was rainy or cold or if his sons didn't feel like working that day. They worked to rebuild that wall week after week, yet they didn't feel they were ever making any progress. Don't you feel like that at times? They worked on holidays, during their vacations, and on weekends for over a year.

 

They mixed concrete and toted what seemed to them like millions of bricks, back and forth. If they were in bad moods, or sick, or had tests to take the next day—Father didn't care. The wall had to be built. On a day they were in a terrible mood, as Will describes it, they protested to their father that the job was impossible. It was impossible that these two little boys were asked to build this wall and it would never get done.

 

Tired of hearing his son complain, Will's father threw down his tools, walked over to the wall-to-be, and said: "Stop thinking about the wall! There is no wall. There are only bricks. And your job is to lay this brick perfectly. Then move on to the next brick. Then lay that brick perfectly. Then the next one. Don't worry about the wall. Your only concern is one brick."

 

Will described, "When he focused on the wall, the job felt impossible. Never-ending. But when he focused on one brick, everything got easier. As the weeks passed, the bricks mounted, and the hole got just a little bit smaller. I started to see that the difference between a task that felt impossible and a doable task is merely a matter of perspective. 

 

Are you paying attention to the wall?

Or are you paying attention to the brick?"

 

So when life feels overwhelming, when a task at hand is daunting, when you look ahead and think, Oh no! It's too much! I can't do it! Think about things brick by brick. I love that lesson! 

 

One brick at a time. One step at a time. Will shares: "Every single day, no matter where you are going or what you're going through, there is always another brick sitting right there in front of you, waiting to get laid. The only question: Are you going to get up and lay it?"

 

So this week, Take things brick by brick. 

 

Whether you're prospecting for a new client or calling clients to start the conversation on how you can help solve their biggest problem, begin laying the foundation to building your brick wall, your business. And before you know it, what felt like a wall you felt was impossible to build, that you thought would be impossible to endure, that achievement you thought was out of your reach—you'll suddenly find that you have created a solid foundation and wall – for your business. You made it through—one brick at a time.

 

Do me a favor and rate this episode if you like it or If you think someone could benefit from this share it.

 

Learn more about how to Simply Your sales meetings using 3-word topics at http://www.threewordmeetings.com .