Are You that Good, or Just Lucky?

Sometimes the more successful we are as business developers and marketers, the more management considers alternative scenarios for our success. Has this ever happened to you?

A number of years ago the president of the firm I was working for asked a vice president," Is Tryst that good, or is he just lucky?" When the vice president confided in me, he said he told the president he didn’t know. Not a glowing endorsement of me, but an  answer to remain on good terms with the president.

The reason the president saw the need to ask the question was simple. I worked for an engineering firm responsible for marketing and business development, but was not an engineer. In a 10 office company, the office I worked in was the sales leader the six years I had been leading marketing and business development. In addition, the firm had a feasibility study group with a staff of about 20. After selling a hospital study, the firm didn’t have a project manager and asked me to fill in. At the end of the study I negotiated a $400,000 design project. When the president asked his question, I had served as project manager on seven studies that had generated over $3 million in design fees, in addition to the other business I had brought in, and the president had chosen to join us on our way to the eighth interview.

Was I that good, or just lucky? The president didn't understand the method to my "lucky" performance.

Is the rainmaker who constantly brings in new work simply lucky? What separates hard work from luck? Benjamin Franklin had it right when he said, “Diligence is the mother of good luck.”

Industry professionals, who are riding a streak of bad luck and not penetrating new accounts, winning new projects or being rejected, need to rethink their basic strategy.

This is a dilemma that has faced people for centuries. The Roman philosopher, Seneca, had this to say about it in 50 AD, “ Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Therefore the key to ending a bad luck streak or continuing a streak of good luck is preparation. How do you prepare? All of our firms might believe that winning is everything.  Vince Lombardi said, "Winning isn't everything. Preparing to win is."

Here are three keys every marketing services professional needs, if they want management to think they are lucky:

1.Networking—Every contact made at a networking event can be the source of future business. The key in both social media networking or face-to-face event networking is developing a relationship.

2.Stay in Touch with Clients—This sounds like a “no brainer”, but “out of sight, out of mind” is not the exception in professional services marketing. Because of their lifetime value, some clients are never out of our minds, but the rest only hear from us when we send out a newsletter or a press release on a new project. Contact those clients and find out how they are doing. Ask them what is going on with their company, their families and their hobbies. If you’re really lucky, your call will come at the exact time they are planning a new project. Otherwise, the call will simply help prepare you for the next project and keep you and your firm at the top of the client’s mind.

3.Training/Education—The only thing constant in life is change. If you don’t change, you can’t grow. Although we understand the reality of these statements, we sometimes feel all trained out. Some of us think there is nothing new under the sun. Our motto, “I have been there and done that.” Honestly answer these questions: Do you know everything about your clients and the industries they are in? Are you simply making contacts or actually developing clients and relationships with social media? Do you know how to measure the return of every marketing investment? How do you filter noise in your communications with clients? Have you developed the best business development strategy for every client? If none of these questions causes pause, you might not benefit from training. On the other hand, the training might connect you with industry professionals who could refer you to the next client.  If you are like most of us, you will now commit to additional training.

Finally, what was my response to the vice president who told me what the president had said? I simply said, “I would rather be lucky than last in company sales.” Sometimes it is good to have a little mystery surround your success. With apologies to Daniel Burnham, without preparation, we have no magic to stir men's blood.