Boy, I sure understand this one. I was told in September that the last internal clients of a company with a blue globe in the logo was not only terminating our maintenance contract, but yanking out our system out of all the sites. To be replaced with... nothing.
Like you, I spent a good week sulking and being fearful. (What I wouldn't give to have that 2014 maintenance $$$ right this very minute...) But then I decided to use the situation to learn something. So I point blank asked both groups what led them to their decision. I let them know that if it was our service or products, that they could be honest with me so I could take their feedback to heart. I was blessed to hear back from both of them.
While I received great feedback and learned it was nothing about us - that they LOVED our products and services - had they given me valuable but negative feedback, I would have definitely incorporated their suggestions into our corporate MO. It didn't help with my bottom line, but I decided I needed to hear the honest truth, especially if they were choosing a competitor over us.
What I learned. Business is not personal, and it is not a reflection of your worth as a person. Hold your head high for the job you have performed and the team's perception of you. Business is business. (I know, I'm self employed so that line is awfully blurry at times.)
Now for the good. So please take off the glasses you are wearing and put these rose colored ones on. It will help...
These clients were also somewhat time consuming to my business. They were getting more difficult to service. To my utter surprise and delight, they have been replaced by a new, paying Fortune 500 client... whose name starts with a V and ends with an N. They love our new product line and are using us as the template for their remodeling efforts for internal call centers up and down the east coast.
By shedding my old time intensive client, I opened the door to newer and better opportunities with a new one, and one that will probably be a significant percentage of our corporate earnings in 2014. Keep the faith!
Take care-
Betsey
"There are only 2 ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
