Planning ahead

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Singapore, 24^th October 2013

A busy day at the office, as always just before I go away for an extended time, a million things to do and clear. Tomorrow night I fly off to Europe on my way to PLDC in Copenhagen, with a short stop in Holland to see my parents who I don’t see that much, living this part of the world. A bit of family time before I plunge into a sea of lighting designers!

Planning ahead is crucial in our business, not only for yourself but also for your clients. I surely have blogged about this issue before as it is a continuously recurring challenge. Today was another such day where I worked through my schedule planning my movements till Christmas (yes it’s around the corner, watch the shops around you, they are already in Xmas mode!). On top of that we were trying to accommodate an unreasonable client for a crucial concept presentation. A few weeks ago we had informed the client about our availability, specifically my availability as I wanted to do this presentation myself. With ample advance notice and a range of date/time options given for this lighting presentation, we were shocked to find out that they reverted back with a confirmed date on a day and time (tomorrow afternoon) we had specifically indicated we would not be available…can you believe, it? Whether we could accommodate? We tried offering a teleconference (the meeting is in a neighbouring country) but even that somehow was not “convenient” to the bosses.

This sort of situations are kind of frustrating as you set out early to plan it properly and ahead of time in respect of your clients time and availability, only to find a client more interested in other priorities. It feels very disrespectful as if you are totally not important to them…which probably is the case 🙂 …

So contrasting with my meeting in Manila earlier in the week where the client made a real effort to accommodate our visit, showing us great deal of respect and trust. Not surprisingly this meeting went really well and with all focussed to progress the meeting ended with approvals and go-aheads…how different clients can be!

Light Watch 4-182: Planning is also in full swing for the upcoming PLDC and this morning my speaker sponsors (Thanks Luce & Light!) advised the participant about my talk and the book signing ceremony that we have planned afterwards! See you there!