Case Study: Three Confidential Projects
How Would You Address This One?
You talk to the prospective client over the phone. She tells you to, "Please come in. There are three confidential opportunities for you and your company I want to go review with you that we are looking at. I have not told anyone about these three things that we need help with." She hints as to what the three are - as she has labeled them with titles that sound like what you do - but she does not go into any detail.
Your firm would be the first ones she explains her needs to. This will obviously give you a leg up.
She is a decision maker and she is asking you to keep this a secret as she has not yet socialized this to anyone in her organization.
So you're obviously excited. It's a big deal - in fact all three of these can big deals.
So you and her agree to the time and date to meet. A week later you fly into town. And you bring along your subject matter expert (SME).
You arrive after a three-hour plane flight. She is there and se brings with her about six other people. Everyone is nice and pleasant and things seem to be going well in the meeting. Your contact is explaining to you and your SME what she needs with one of the big projects. As she explains you are finding out that this one project is a little out of your sweetspot. The other six people are stakeholders and technical people and they are going through their issues and ideas about the project.
At about 55 minutes later, she stands up and says, "I have a another meeting to run to. The others can stick around here and proivide more detail."
What would you do at this point? This project is out of your sweetspot (it would be a stretch to perform) - and you have not heard about the other two projects. Remember she has asked you to keep the three projects confidential.
By the way - this is a true story. I was only involved after the fact . . .
How Would You Address This One?
You talk to the prospective client over the phone. She tells you to, "Please come in. There are three confidential opportunities for you and your company I want to go review with you that we are looking at. I have not told anyone about these three things that we need help with." She hints as to what the three are - as she has labeled them with titles that sound like what you do - but she does not go into any detail.
Your firm would be the first ones she explains her needs to. This will obviously give you a leg up.
She is a decision maker and she is asking you to keep this a secret as she has not yet socialized this to anyone in her organization.
So you're obviously excited. It's a big deal - in fact all three of these can big deals.
So you and her agree to the time and date to meet. A week later you fly into town. And you bring along your subject matter expert (SME).
You arrive after a three-hour plane flight. She is there and se brings with her about six other people. Everyone is nice and pleasant and things seem to be going well in the meeting. Your contact is explaining to you and your SME what she needs with one of the big projects. As she explains you are finding out that this one project is a little out of your sweetspot. The other six people are stakeholders and technical people and they are going through their issues and ideas about the project.
At about 55 minutes later, she stands up and says, "I have a another meeting to run to. The others can stick around here and proivide more detail."
What would you do at this point? This project is out of your sweetspot (it would be a stretch to perform) - and you have not heard about the other two projects. Remember she has asked you to keep the three projects confidential.
By the way - this is a true story. I was only involved after the fact . . .
