I’ve been in Florida for 5 days. It’s a chance to rejuvenate and write. the ‘plan’ was morning walks on the beach, writing, maybe a swim in the pool in the afternoon, and more writing. A good plan, right?
Well, the weather changed that plan – it rained for 4 days – serious rain, high winds and gloom. 
Today is my day of departure, and of course, the skies are clear and the sun is shining. I made time for a walk on the ocean’s edge before the airport!
As I was walking, I looked for shells. Each trip I find one or two special sea shells to take back to Wisconsin. We put them in the rocks around our pool to connect the two spaces we loves.
The beach was full of people hunting for shells this morning after the storms. There were thousands of shells – or rather parts of shells. As I walked the shoreline like everyone else, I didn’t see any special shells, they were probably picked up already. So I waded into the ocean a bit to see what else I could find. Some, but still mostly broken. Then I waded out knee deep – figuring its a better workout anyway – and THERE were beautiful shells aplenty! I filled my pockets within ten minutes.
Isn’t this how it is with sales? We need to look for prospects and opportunity. Yet often its easy to stay where it is safe on the shore and wait for the perfect opportunity to find that perfect prospect to surface.
We then find that many of the prospects may not be qualified – like the broken shells. So we need to exert more effort, wade in further and get ourselves really wet to find the perfect prospects – maybe they are even untouched by our competitors!
By taking the extra steps, we differentiate ourselves from most other sellers. They stay at the shoreline and fight for the easy picks.
By wading in, we can find a more bountiful opportunity.
As you think about this – are you playing it too safe by the shoreline? What waters should you wade deeper in to find your opportunities?
I challenge you this next week to take that step by:
- Identifying what is happening in your market that has washed ashore some opportunities?
- Where are your competitors focusing their efforts because of this?
- What is the next level for finding more opportunities? Is it calling someone you never have?Asking for referrals from your happy customers? Finding a plan for opening new relationships? Mining your CRM for stalled sales or former customers?
Identify at least ONE action you can take – and then wade in to grab it!
