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Talk about the art and science of business development: Stories and details to earn new clients or accounts, gain a competitive advantage and find your success.
Welcome to the Finding Business podcast, where every Sunday, in just five minutes, you'll learn something new to attract ideal clients and accounts. I’m your host, Scott Channell. For more episodes and information on services offered, visit scottchannell.com — that's Scott Channell with two T's, two N's, and two L's, dot com.
Now, onto the show.
I want to share a true story that illustrates how success often lies just beyond the point where most people stop.
Back in 2004, I decided to take a leap. I was tired of being the "local hardworking smart guy," setting C-level discovery call appointments for companies. I wanted to break into the national market — to work with bigger companies, train larger teams, and frankly, be paid for the value I provided, not just for my time.
So, I wrote my first book and began promoting it using Google Ads and a sequenced, permission-based email series. My approach was methodical. I tested a lot of keywords to drive traffic and tried a lot of ads to get clicks. It all came together —except for one critical element: my landing page.
Visitors were clicking, but very few were opting into my email list. The few who did? Well, they bought at a rate of one out of ten, which was fantastic. If I could increase opt-ins, it would be a ka ching gold mine.
I tried everything. I tried four different landing pages, then five, six, seven—nothing worked. The few people who opted in still bought at a high rate, but I wasn’t getting many of them.
Feeling stuck, I decided to pull a “George Costanza.” If you’re a Seinfeld fan, you might remember the episode where George realizes every decision he’s made in life has been wrong, so he decides to do the exact opposite of what he would normally do. I figured, why not? I had tried everything else.
So, on my ninth attempt, I did the opposite of what I thought would work—clashing colors, strange fonts, a weird layout. I wanted to gag. But guess what? It worked. Like turning on a faucet, suddenly I had a flood of opt-ins, BOOM and sales skyrocketed.
It took nine tries to crack the code, but that breakthrough changed everything. I built a massive email list that sustained my business for years. Had I given up on the third, sixth, or eighth try, I have no idea what I might be doing today.
Here are three key lessons from that experience:
Lesson 1: Success Arises from Failure
Every successful person has failed. They learn from those failures and expect them as part of the process. The key is managing failure so that the risk makes sense compared to the potential reward. In my case, the 6th, 7th, and 8th attempts required extra time, but that time was a smart investment for the reward I was chasing.
Lesson 2: Success is Often Just Beyond the Point Where Most Quit
If you quit too early, you’ll never realize your full potential. This is especially true in sales. If you avoid failure or run from it, never learn from it, you doom yourself to order taker status, you’ll only close the easy deals, never come close to mastering the craft of sales, and certainly never becoming a top producer.
Lesson 3: Effort Alone is Not Enough
Your efforts must be methodical and guided by a strategy. Otherwise, you’re just banging your head against a wall. I didn’t quit because I knew the reward was worth the effort. But remember, while persistence is critical, it’s equally important to learn something from every effort and know when to change tactics.
The takeaway? Most big successes come after multiple failures. The trick is knowing when to push forward and when to pivot.
I hope today’s episode got you thinking.
For more information on this podcast, past episodes, and my services, visit scottchannell.com — that’s Scott Channell with two T’s, two N’s, and two L’s, dot com.
Thanks for listening!