At the end of the day, a small biz lives and dies by its customers. Serve the existing ones; find the new ones.
If you're in the service industry -- pr firm, ad agency, lawyer, architect, etc... -- you'll certainly identify with this blog post over at the Ad Age Small Agency Blog, which examines how to bounce back after a big loss:
Win or lose -- if you compete enough, your brand equity goes up. After all, something good about the shop must be getting you in these pitches, right?
I always say, "Never treat a loss as a closed door." During the pitch process, you probably learned a hell of a lot about the client, its business and its competitors. If you were good enough to get on the short-list, something about your agency interested the client. Keep in contact with it; you never know when it might outsource an agency or, two years down the road, look for a new one.
Good lessons for any smart biz.
