I used to believe that there were no do-overs in business.

You only get one chance to make a first impression. You’ve got to nail it; get it right the first time.

At least that’s what I believed!

What if that’s wrong!

But there are many times that I have a critical call with a prospect or client, and later that day or week, I come up with a better idea or a more effective way to express my point of view.

I used to just beat myself up, “Why didn’t you say that on the call? What good does it do anyone NOW?”

But I got to thinking, should I keep that to myself? Don’t I want the client to have access to my best ideas?

Let’s try that again.

So now, when that happens, I reach out to the client and say, “I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before, but after we hung up…” And I give them the idea. “If you’d like to talk about this further, I’ve got time on…”

Every time I’ve done this, it’s gone well!

• People are surprised and appreciative that I was thinking about them!
• If the idea is a good one, it creates a chance for a second conversation.
• If my new idea isn’t persuasive, folks don’t hold it against me.

Once I started seeing results with this, I’ve started asking for full do-overs.

“I’m so sorry, that conversation we had today didn’t go the way I thought it would. Could we try it again from the beginning? I have time for a do-over on…”

What’s your experience with do-overs?