I’m a fool with sending emails. Especially when it comes to selecting the recipient. I always type the first letter of a name and hit enter. I trust the computer and never check whether the address I’ve selected is actually the person I want to mail. I’m lazy. Often, it doesn’t matter and I get funny responses back from people.
But one time this simple mistake cost me $150K in business. I was working with two companies on a multi-year consulting deal. Both of my contacts had the same name, let’s call them Wim. One Wim was an existing client, let’s call him Wim A, and the other was a prospect, Wim B.
Both guys wanted the same type of consulting for their companies. But I gave Wim A a better rate because he was a loyal customer. However, instead of sending the contract to Wim A, I sent the contract to Wim B.
This time, it wasn’t an innocent mistake. Wim B previously had seen my proposal, which had a higher total price. But when he saw that Wim A got a lower rate, he was upset. “Why does he get a lower rate Is that how you do business” He decided not to do business with us.
I learned three things;
1. Always double check.
2. Small things can become big things.
3. And don’t play favors.
There’s no use in asking why I made a mistake. Or why I was always lazy with email. I just was. And I was wrong. There’s no way to justify my mistake. Never brush important details off and say, “It doesn’t matter.” Maybe it doesn’t matter that you hit snooze every single day, or that you ignore the details of your book, report, or movie.
The point is that not striving for perfection becomes a habit. Don’t worry about being a perfectionist—there’s no such thing. More often than not, people are the opposite. Perfectionism is merely an excuse. In reality, we’re scared of what people think of our work.
Either way, there’s no point in asking “why” when you deal with obstacles, challenges, or mistakes. Instead, think about what you can do to overcome or prevent the things that are holding you back.
