How do you catch a fish?

I was looking over some meeting notes I had taken several weeks ago and came across something I jotted randomly in the middle of my meeting notes – and YES I was paying attention to the meeting as well. What I wrote down was of no other value than to excite our thought process towards thinking outside of the box and showing that non-linear thinking can be of more value than our normal thought process. So with that stated, here’s what I wrote down….

“How do you catch a fish?” – notes dated July 14th, 2009

HOLY SH!T! Mind blowing, right!? Thought provoking, edgy stuff here. J

Give yourself a minute and think about it… how do YOU catch a fish? Or.. HOW do you catch a fish? (Symantec difference but important none the less)

Let’s break this down a bit so you can understand my thought process. This is far beyond fish and fishing, but this is the vehicle I am using to convey this easily. Really, it’s an explanation of how we apply ourselves to our own actions.

How do you catch a fish? For me, I’m not a fisher, I just don’t have the patience for it. Many of us don’t have time to fish – or the patience. I personally go to the grocery store and talk with my local fish monger – “pick me a winner”. Ta-da, fish caught! Perch - $18.99/pound…YIKES!!!

Perch happens to be an abundant fish in Lake Erie. I could catch on my own as my parents have a fantastic boat which I would easily navigate to a prime fishing spot. However, it’s easier and less time consuming to go buy my fish. BUT, it’s also expensive.

For me, to buy fish I save time and frustration and minimize the risk that I will not catch any fish – or worse, sink my parents boat. However, at the price if $18.99/pound for something locally caught, I am getting screwed.

On the contrary, I could use my parents boat and catch so many fish I have enough to give to friends and family or even sell some back to the grocery store I usually buy fish at. There could be a gold-mine in me doing my own fishing. But in my mind I only see the difficult task and time consumption linked to fishing.
The bigger picture here is how we apply our own abilities and how we go out of our way to take the path of least resistance which may be more costly, less productive, or even more difficult then what we had assumed it to be.
But what about for yourself or your business? How do YOU catch that fish (customer)? Maybe you spend money at tradeshows. Maybe you pay marketing firms to give you somewhat-warm lead lists. Maybe you spend hours on the internet searching for potential customers based on keywords. These are all ways to catch a fish and none of them are wrong. Depending on your business these avenues may be the best way or easiest way to catch that fish. Quality may suffer or your customer conversion rate may diminish.

All too often the door-to-door (business to business, B2B) salesman approach is badmouthed; seems like a lot of hard work for minimal results, is inconvenient, or some people feel plain uncomfortable doing it. However, there’s nothing like sitting and listening to someone’s problems and letting them buy your product. Customers often tell you what they need - they solve their own problems and here you are to provide them that solution.

There are many ways to catch a fish. Don’t be afraid to roll up your sleeves and catch your own fish. Often the relationships you make fishing yourself are stronger than the relationship between you and your fish monger (who’s just looking to make a sale) or marketing firm selling you those leads. There is opportunity for risk takers, big opportunities.

No great reward has ever come without an-equally-as-great risk. A lot of the time when someone tells you you’re wrong (unless it’s math or science, fact based) you are indeed on the right path. Nothing great ever came without resistance. Don’t let “no” or “I don’t think so” stop you.