“Hello Caroline, us again! So where are we going this year?” For seven years now I have organised Prize Giving Day for this client.
It all started from a call to tender that arrived in my inbox eight years ago as some do occasionally giving the impression that the client has sent out a mail shot to the whole world. There was no telephone number supplied and an internet search turned up no reliable information on the company. From their point of view I was certainly just another potential supplier like all the others but I set out to convince them otherwise! So I responded to the tender quickly and efficiently and sent my proposals by email although with little hope of getting a favourable response.
Wrong! A couple of days later I received a call from a charming lady to say that I had won the tender!
It was during the reconnaissance trip that I had the opportunity to meet my new clients, who were both charming and open and with whom I quickly established great trust and friendship. During the event itself I was able to get to know better the four associates of the company and the unusual corporate culture. I was astonished by the friendliness and the connection that existed between the chairman and the employees who he addressed by first name (and there were 300 of them…). And the words that he used at the end of his speech: “Be ambitious, be crazy!”
And that is why every year I organise their Prize Giving Day and why each time I respond with the same care and precision to their requirements. And it is always an enormous pleasure to work with them again.
Shall I just round off the story for you?
When I asked: “Florence, why did you choose my proposal rather than someone else’s?”
She replied: “You were the only one of all the agencies who bothered to reply…”
My determination right at the start of the story therefore gave me the opportunity to meet a client quite unlike others and with whom I have a trust-based relationship and friendship. An on-going story…
