About a month back, one of my existing customer actually referred his friend who was looking for an Interior Designer to me, and I honestly felt like this referral had tremendous potential to actually engage me for my services, so thinking this was almost a done deal for me, I decided it would only be right to go the extra mile and prepare a 3D drawing for them for their first consultation.
I thought we hit it off really well and I was able to schedule a second meeting about a week later, showed them the quotation and adjusted the changes they have requested on the spot for them, I knew they were not going to engage my services without first looking through the quotation and think over it for a few days, so they left.
About a week later, I receive a text message from them, requesting to view one of my ongoing projects, they wanted to see the workmanship of my contractor and since I had one that was almost completed, I granted their request. They came, I showed them around the unit, we spoke, they even met the owner, which was not planned, and then they left, but before they left, I told them to update me about their decision soon.
Well, they did just that this morning and it wasn't what I had anticipated.
They decided to go with another Interior Designer.
I honestly don't know what went wrong, because I thought everything went well. Normally when I feel like a customer has the potential to engage me, chances are very likely they will, especially after meeting them 3 times, so I am honestly really confuse what went wrong. That being said, I do feel a sense of relief that they decided not to engage me.
When they actually do get the keys for their home and proceed with the renovation, it will start around the same time as their friends' a.k.a my client, and it is going to be extremely stressful when they inevitably decide to start comparing with each other their renovation progress, which will then lead to questions like...
"Are you sure this is acceptable workmanship, I did not see this issue from my friend's site."
"This problem right here can be fixed, I know for a fact because you were able to rectify it for my friend."
"Why are you only charging him this amount for this item, but you are charging me almost double the price for mine?"
... I can't deal with this kind of issue, dealing with one difficult customer is already hard enough, just the thought of having to deal with 2 potentially difficult customers who actually know one another?
So I am actually more glad they decided not to engage my services than I am sad that they have rejected me.
One thing I do find extremely odd is how they were telling me in the rejection text that they will be sure to recommend me to their friends who are also looking for an Interior Designer.
Not going to be a very convincing recommendation, I mean you are recommending to them an Interior Designer you decided not to engage in the end, unless the Interior Designer they have chosen to engage really fucks them over, their friends are not going to settle for what is essentially second best.
I mean settling for second best in terms of food or drinks is alright, if I can't find a KOI nearby, then I will settle for LiHo, they are both good, except KOI is obviously better because it's KOI. It's a few dollars a cup, and I can always afford to have KOI another day, but settling for second best for your home renovation, that's at least a $20,000, ain't no first time home owners gonna settle for second best when $20,000 is on the line.
Second Best. If a couple rejected me because I didn't bother to follow up with them, then I have nothing to say about it, I deserve it for not putting in any effort, but if I did and they still are not impressed by it, it is really quite demoralizing. So if you are going to be telling your friends...
"You can look for Tim, he was able to prepare quite a few proposals and even came up with a 3D rendering for us before we even paid for anything, and he's really nice about it, so don't feel bad about it if in the end you don't feel comfortable engaging him."
a.k.a
"We wasted so much of him time and effort and you should too!"
Please. Go Away.
The rejection stings, but I'm sure I will get over it within a week and that sting will soon be replaced by a greater sense of relief. And by get over I mean it won't be at the top of my head, but it will still be constantly at the back of my bitter bitter mind and I am sure this experience will appear occasionally throughout my future blog post.
Evidently, I am not good at handling rejection.
Last month, I also had a potential customer slip out of my hands, but that was more my fault because I didn't really follow up with him after our second meeting, he was nice enough to update me of his decision though, so that was actually great, and really rare of customers these day.
I feel like I have on hand a few customers with potential, but a part of me just doesn't really want to bother getting more new projects.
The only reason why I want to get new projects is so I don't feel so stressed out about not having any new projects. The moment my next 2 projects are done, I am going to really consider making a career switch and get a job with a stable salary because right now, this career is just not cutting it for me financially, my savings has been on a steady decline and the amount I will be making from these few projects I will be closing soon will only be enough to cover what I have spend over the last 11 months.
The current stream of customers I have been receiving are pretty much a waste of time, I don't sense any sort of potential from them, either because I have no interest to run their projects or because it is painfully obvious that their only intention is to get a free quotation.
That being said, I think the biggest issue with this career is myself. I am just way too picky with the customers I want to work with.
Gawd! I really need a new job. Right now I am being tied down to the company because I have 2 more projects that have yet to begin, if by the time those end and I still have no new projects to run, it really doesn't take a genius to know that it is time to leave, which means by the end of March next year, I might be working in a different company, or be in the midst of looking for a new job.
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