I recently experienced a disappointing, baffling and somewhat embarrassing situation with a client and I’ve been mulling it over for a couple of weeks now. To be very honest, I should probably call them a prospective client, since we never actually got the project off the ground.

In mid-September last year, the head of marketing for a fairly large regional firm (not in Pennsylvania) contacted me about a number of projects related to visibility and branding for the firm. It was a cold call—or email—of sorts. Her name was familiar but I couldn’t remember where or when we’d met, and neither could she. A month into her new role, she had a list of short- and long-term priorities, a mandate from firm leadership and the promise of a budget to accomplish it. She also had a very small marketing department for the size of her firm, and she wanted my help.