We’re currently in negotiations over a contract for a fairly important client. Well I say negotiations we we’re asked to tender against competition that had been after our contract. Nothing really that shocking there, (other than the fact that when we originally agreed the deal it was under the impression that it was for more than a single year) I mean as a business I want to ensure my suppliers and sub-contractors are doing the best possible job for me and sometimes you need to keep them on their toes, so when a client does the same to me, I see it as just another part of business.
Anyway, I wrote and submitted the tender as requested and then had a telephone meeting with the man I understood to be responsible for their website and an agreement was made on a new 12 month contract. I for one was quite happy with this, trusting that this person’s word was good enough as he is supposedly a trusting, honourable and moral person, but unfortunately little over a week since this meeting it seems that they have gone back on their word and a decision has yet to be made and I am now waiting to see if we will win the contract – for a second time in two weeks.
So the question is, if we lose the contract, how do I react? I originally thought we had an agreement for more than the 1 year, then when asked to tender, I thought we had won the contract based on the word of the man at the top and now there is a chance that we will miss out on the contract.
Sadly one lesson I have learnt is that there aren’t many people in business as good as their word.
Tags: a person's word, contracts, honour, moral, tendering, trust
So I had planned to be blog crazy this past week after starting my blog, but I’ve been busy working – always a good thing especially at times like these, but it got me thinking about how being a Director of an SME requires many skills. As everyone knows (though not until you undertake it quite how much) when your involved with a relatively small and young company you have to do pretty much everything, so I have been busy, marketing, negotiating, tendering, selling, networking and, oh yeah working this week, but you have to remember the big picture and all these tasks go into the large melting pot that is our business.
I quite enjoy most of the tasks to be honest, I was at a meeting the other day discussing some consultancy work and I mentioned that I enjoy meeting with clients or people in general and it was met with disbelief, an IT person who actually enjoys human contact! But it’s true I do enjoy meeting with people and always enjoy chatting with clients, customers and even sales people on the phone, my girlfriend thinks this is so funny how I allow them to run through their best sales pitch before declining the offer of a life time.
Anyway, a lot of this rambling is building towards a question (believe it or not) – which part of business which you do not consider your main skill or service is your favourite part? This could be sales, marketing, finance or any other aspect of the business.
Of course my favourite part of any project is either the start when we win the project or the end when we finish the project and I get to invoice them, at either stage it’s when we get money and that is always my favourite part of business.
Tags: best part of business, favourite part of business, marketing, negotiating, networking, selling, tendering, working
