Fish where the fish are

The drunk and the key

There is an old story about a drunk who is on his hands and knees under a street lamp, patting the ground and diligently searching here and there. A policeman comes up and ask him what the matter is. The drunk says that he has lost the key for his house. The policeman, having a quiet night, decides to be friendly and joins in looking for the keys. Before long some other people come along and join in too, much to the gratitude of the drunk.

After a while, someone notes that there is limited space here and surely the key would have been found by now. "Where did you lose the key?" she asks the drunk. "Over there" says the drunk, pointing down the road. "So why are we looking here?" asks the policeman, as the other people also stop looking and exasperatedly look at the drunk. "Because it's dark over there!" says the drunk.

We are often like the drunk. We look for customers in places where we are more comfortable, and in so doing miss out on many possible leads and sales.

Sales leads and prospects are found all over the place, and not just where you think they should be or where they were last time you looked.

A common trap is to fish in the same pond until it is pretty much fished out. Yet we still sit there with our rod, perhaps sighing about the good old days. To fish in the ocean you need a good sonar and real intelligence.

So get out there and find customers wherever they might be. Look in strange places and think about people who might not be customers now but could be.

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Fish where the fish are

The drunk and the key