Be Willing To Do What Others Will Not

There are two kinds of companies.

Resourceful Optimistics

The first kind of company believes that the difficult challenges that their clients and prospects present them are opportunities. Let’s call these companies “resourceful optimistics.” Optimism gives them the belief that something is possible. Their resourcefulness allows them to find a way or make one.

These companies see challenges and obstacles as problems to solve. Solving those problems gives them the ability to create new value that they can use to help out other companies and people solve those same problems.

Resourceful optimistics see problem-solving as value creation and new capabilities. And because they see the world this way, they competitively displace a lot of the sales organizations that are unwilling to solve these challenges.

Unresourceful Stasists

The second kind of company believes that their sweet spot is so well-defined that anything difficult is something to be avoided. They don’t want challenging work; they want to do what they already know how to do and what they already do well. They like stasis.

These companies see problem-solving as a problem. They see difficult clients that are going to stretch them as too much work. They don’t exercise their creative faculties to generate new solutions. When their client’s world changes and new problems occur, these resourceful stasists lose their business to sales organizations who solve the problems they aren’t interested in working on.

What you are unwilling to do, someone else sees as an opportunity. They see it as a chance to win a new client. Resourceful optimistics believe that there is some innovation that can be deployed to create new value and solve those problems, deepen relationships, and retain the clients they take from competitors who refuse to solve problems.