I sat next to an account manager for Coca Cola on a plane ride to Phoenix who shared an interesting story with me. She had been trying for many years to get the soft drink syrup account for one of the larger convenience store chains in Phoenix. The problem, however, was that the competition had a “lock” on the business. Rather than give up, this woman continued to call on the convenience store chain. But every year, the competition continued to be awarded the business.
One day her window of opportunity opened. On the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, the competition’s dispensing machine broke down in one of the chain’s larger stores. One of the managers of this chain phoned her competition and asked them to come out and fix their machine. The competition’s response was, “We’ll have someone out there on Tuesday” which was the next business day. This store stood to lose a lot of sales if this machine wasn’t fixed. And since both Coca Cola and its competition used the same machine, this manager decided to call this woman at her home and ask if she would come in and fix her competition’s dispensing machine.
Seizing the opportunity, this woman was on the scene in very quick order to fix the competition’s machine. When finished, she told everyone in the store to have a nice day. Several months later, when the current contract expired, she was awarded the business and was not the lowest price. The reason she got the business was that the local management of the convenience store chain knew they could count on her.
So, when a particular situation looks hopeless, don’t give up. Be patient and wait for your window of opportunity to open–knowing full well that sooner or later it will. And, when it does, don’t hesitate; go for it![1]
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