Opportunity Knocks, Part 2

Previously, we discussed the opportunities which suddenly appear to us and are not a result of our own marketing efforts. These opportunities do not result from our planning, our prospecting, or our marketing in general. They may include chances to discover prospects which appear out of nowhere but who may make us more successful than we believed possible.

As a result of the previous blog discussion on these “surprise” opportunities, I had several conversations with various readers regarding how to recognize and respond to these types of chances for business. I must say that to my amazement, some business people with whom I spoke are just not as astute as I would hope all of us to be. Some people would not recognize a business opportunity if it walked up to them and slapped them in the face.

We all are very busy people, making plans, going to appointments, marketing to each and every person whom we meet. However, we really do not market to everyone in an alert manner. Actually we miss many chances to discuss what we do and inform other people of what our business actually does. The fact that we do not see these people as prospects does not mean that they may not know someone else who is a great opportunity for us. They may even be great prospects for our business.

I had the occasion recently to attend some meetings of groups with which I have never networked and nor do I belong to any of these types of group. I was stunned that some of the attendees were “distant” to newcomers almost to the point of rudeness. They did not introduce themselves voluntarily, refrained from engaging in any level of conversation, and never offered any effort to even say hello in many cases. It was not just me with whom they did not network, but other new attendees to their groups.

These types of networkers are just the people who need to practice some Gratitude Marketing. They are literally practicing negative marketing and driving away any possibility of developing any relationships which might bring them referrals or new business of any sort. Not only would I never recommend any of them to anyone, I would also never recommend their meetings for anyone to attend.

Not recommending them to anyone else is easy since I never received any information from them. However, someone might attend their meetings with the aim of developing relationships with other newcomers who are also being ignored by the regular members. This would be like starting a subgroup of disenchanted people within the main group. Maybe that idea has some merit.

We all must be more aware of these opportunities which will appear “out of the blue” and take advantage of them. We would not want to appear rude and asleep when they present themselves to us. If nothing else, we should treat these chances to build our businesses like “found money” and know that they are a return on our karma.

Gratitude Marketing offers us the opportunity to build our reputation as caring, honest, ethical, and giving business people. It also brings us the karma of opportunities “out of the blue” which we may not ever anticipate in our planning. We must be alert to these chance happenings and never ignore them. To do so would be detrimental to our business and might even be perceived as rude by others. Please leave me your comments, or email me at Jim@JimTeasley.com, or call me at 360-314-8691.