At Fast Company we spend a lot of time writing about business success stories, hoping to uncover what it is that smart companies do that others can emulate. Sure, that's useful. But, as Mary Cantando, founder of Womenbusinessowner.com, points out: you can learn as much from others' experience in dealing with failure as you can from life's winners. What's more, it's often more fun hearing that the people we admire were once as inept as the rest of us, than hearing one more tale of superhuman derring-do.
Taking Martha Stewart's recent plight as inspiration, Mary gathered a variety of stories of successful women's bleakest moments, from Rosie's Bakery founder Judy Rosenberg's disastrous choice of retailing locations to Newport Furnishing's Denise Haney's misguided trust in a partner, to Diversity Partner's Adrian Guglielmo's embarrassing overreaching for a contract with a big-name client. Read them and feel better about whatever it was you screwed up today. Then pick yourself up, dust yourself off...
Related Stories: | Topics:Management, women in business, Martha Stewart, Denise Haney, Judy Rosenberg, Fast Company Magazine, Mary Cantando |
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Recent Comments | 11 Total
May 12, 2005 at 9:49am by Dan Seidman
I've collected almost 600 stories of stupid sales blunders in 15 years of training and managing selling professionals.
Mistakes serve as an excellent method to teach. They're funny, memorable and as most of my audience members comment at national sales conferences; "thank God that didn't happen to me!"
Dan Seidman, SalesAutopsy.com
"One of the top 12 sales coaches in America" (Ultimate Selling Power)
Sales Horror Stories now appearing on Monster.com!
Author, The Sales Comic Book
There is nothing like it on this planet (possibly any planet)!
http://www.salesautopsy.com 1-847-359-7860 (central time)
May 12, 2005 at 10:17am by Dan Seidman
Okay, someone asked me to give some examples of sales horror stories...
Guy compliments company President on his picture of President with arm around football great John Madden. It's not John Madden, it's the guy's wife.
Two guys drink lime and cherry slurpies just before a sales call and can't wipe it off: Lips, teeth, tongues are glowing green and flaming red. They walk into lobby of building looking like a couple of circus clowns. No sale, of course.
Woman memorizes her Xerox sales pitch and finally gets to present to first potential client. Spends 20 minutes calling the guy - just as the script reads - Mr. Prospect!
(just received this during my speaking program yesterday in San Jose, CA) Christian Dior releases its new line of tanning and bronzing creams. Sends a gal from Paris to Tokyo to present to 30 female buyers. All she gets are blank stares while raving about how this is a great way to look healthy. The host of the program says, "Can you share with us what products you have to make our skin WHITER?" Japanese traditionally view sun on the skin as a sign of the common person, working in the fields. OOPS.
Got a memorable moment of your own to share? The entrepreneurial and sales world can learn through you. Send me an email.
Anonymity guaranteed.
Dan Seidman
dan@salesautopsy.com
May 12, 2005 at 11:26am by Karen Kerrigan
As usual, Mary is brilliant at taking current events and the headlines and turning them into
learning moments for us all! I would encourage
entrepreneurs to sign up for the WE Inc. Journal at www.we-inc.org, if they wish to receive regular advice from Mary Cantando, WE Inc. Business Growth Advisor through our popular "e-zine" -- Karen Kerrigan, President & CEO, WE Inc.
May 12, 2005 at 11:26am by markdauvid
abraham lincoln was born in 1809. up until 1860 he considered himself to be a total failure. at one point he spent 6 months in bed. he never got a college degree,he was self taught, and at the age of 51 he became the president of the united states. very much like our current president(the assasination cycle). lincoln was assasinated in his second term.this is not a prediction of assasination for our president its just the way it looks historically.
May 12, 2005 at 6:59pm by richard
I like this story. It's like Jim Rohn says, "it's too bad failures don't give seminars".
May 13, 2005 at 8:23am by Mary Cantando
Well, Richard, as a matter of fact I DO give seminars on this topic. But I'm afraid you'll feel a little left out when you hear the title: "Secrets of Millionaire Women: How Women Just Like You Built Multimillion $$ Businesses."
May 13, 2005 at 12:36pm by di
Well, I don't have a failure story but would love to provide you with a success story! Unfortunately, so many companies will be telling failure stories because of their lack of vision and not keeping up with the transparency happening everywhere...my company is using this transparency to help companies learn and grow and keep up with their competition. If you're not blogging by now, you should be! But I'm sure I don't have to tell you that...
May 18, 2005 at 12:55pm by Janet Bowen
Women business owners are significantly growing in number, and Mary Cantando is an expert in this area. Her willingness to share her experiences to help others along the way is very refreshing in such a competitive economy. If you are looking to grow your business, she is definitely someone you want to check out.
May 18, 2005 at 12:57pm by Jeannette Mueller
Women business owners are the fastest growing segment of our economy, and Mary Cantando knows all there is to know about woman business owners. If you are interested in learning about women business owners and women-owned business, Mary’s book and articles are great resources in learning about this fast developing segment of our economy.
December 10, 2005 at 4:11pm by Chris Bonnett
During a sales meeting at one of my distributor's shops a customer was in who builds custom holding fixture for manufacturing assembly. The final customer was a large appliance manufacturer. My distributor, hearing the name, went off on a rant about how that particular brand being a total piece of @#&!. Unfortunately, a representative from the large appliance company was standing in the background watching the fixture being measured. Lesson: If you can't be nice, be careful. If you can't be careful, be quit.