NOTHING YET
WTF!
WTF!
WILLING TO FAIL
— TULIP MEDIA’S VERSION
O
Okay, I’m going to start with a confession. Credit for my
article title actually needs to go to Brian Scudamore,
founder of 1-800-GOT-JUNK? In his book, WTF?!
(Willing to Fail): How Failure Can Be Your Key to Success, he
talks about many of the decisions he had to make during
the life of his company and how, in order to grow to the
next level and reinvent himself, he had to be willing to
fail. He did not hesitate to make the big decisions during
the evolution of his company that has turned it into the
global business that it is today.
John (his name is changed for the sake of confidentiality),
a good friend of mine based in Denver, Colorado, runs a
construction company. In the fifteen years he has run it,
the company has grown a lot and operates in multiple
cities doing primarily high-end home renovations.
Over the years, his company grew using a traditional sales
model: a sales team following inbound leads and
attending trade and home shows to promote the business.
The sales team would bring these leads in to the
organization and would work with designers to design
solutions. A quote would be developed through which the
sales team could make a presentation to the client.
Though the company grew substantially over the years,
eventually that growth began to slow. Asking himself
why, he dove in and examined his clients’ buying journey
when dealing with his company. What he found was very
revealing.
John’s prospects would become very excited when talking
about the house and designs with the designers
themselves. Once things got kicked back to the sales team
for quotes however, they began to disengage. As the old
adage goes, “People love to buy, but they hate to be sold.”
And here John was, seeing and witnessing this firsthand.
14 | TULIPMEDIAGROUP.COM