During the workshop we were focusing on building trust and respect in relationship. As the president of a company, this topic is important to me. I was instructed to approach the horses as though they were my clients.
Before attending, I had never touched a horse. I have to tell you when I approached the horses for the first time I was actually afraid. During the workshop we were focusing on building trust and respect in relationship. As the president of a company, this topic is important to me. I was instructed to approach the horses as though they were my clients. I realized that my feelings of intimidation and fear sent strong signals to the horses, and they did not want to cooperate with me. When I acknowledged my fears and worked to calm myself, the horses also became calmer and I was able to lead them through the exercises.
As I reflected on the activity, I recognized that the horses were simply reflecting back to me the feelings I carry with me as I approach prospective clients. It became apparent that I was unaware that I was going into meetings with potential clients feeling intimidated.
My take away from the workshop was immediate, and was actually the start of more development for me. Prior to meeting with a new client or anyone that I want to build a relationship with, I assess how I’m feeling. Once I have identified my emotions I can choose to calm myself or put myself in a different mood, which leaves me more confident and comfortable in the meetings. More of my initial meetings with prospective clients have turned out more positively and have turned into more business. In fact, my business billed 68% more revenue this past year as opposed to previous years of 12-15% growth. A large chunk of that growth, in my assessment, has come from closing a higher percentage of deals, which comes from my being in a more grounded emotional state.
In essence, the “up close and personal” nature of my work with the horses created an enormously powerful awareness of what emotions I carry, and how those are picked up by others. I have leveraged that awareness into a practice of checking in and “re-centering” myself prior to working with a client or entering a meeting.
