Faith Really Does Pay-Off (Sometimes)

You know that saying about not wishing too hard because it might come true (I can't remember the exact words) but sometimes it does.

We were asked to quote for a job and I knew if my boss prepared the quote he'd pitch it so low, for the sake of getting the work, that we'd never make any money from it and as a result we'd be under constant pressure to cut corners. I decided to go in at above cost, my thought being that we could do the job well within our capabilities and that the additional 'profits' would help counter certain losses we would make on other services.

Well guess what? We got the job. That left me with one huge problem, who could do it. My first choice was Magoo, simply because it was the same sort of work she had been doing at her previous job. The problem was that her recent sickness record and lack of commitment made me wonder whether she could actually do the work within the time constraints and anticipate any problems that might arise. I therefore set her a number of tasks to complete in preparation, it was a test not only of her ability but also her attitude, which as I have said before does lack something.

Well I have to say she has delivered exactly what I wanted. Today we had a presentation at the clients and she was excellent (a point I made to her afterwards which made her very pleased), she looked confident, had her notes in the right order and answered all the questions. One thing I have learned is that a client hates nothing more than the words "I'll get back to you on that."

She's gone from zero to hero(ine) in a very short time, the test now for her is whether she can keep this level of work up for more than five minutes. But today I was pleased, not for myself or the client but for her.