Over the weekend our 14-month-old puppy Coco caught another squirrel. Dogs do catch critters but there are some things you should know about Coco. She’s half-lab and half-husky, 85 pounds, not the fastest dog around by far, sort of a klutz, and she’s hilarious when she slinks towards the bird feeders, where the squirrels hang out and get fat. She thinks she’s sneaking up on them.
She makes up for h er lack of speed and grace with smarts. She doesn’t sit and wait for a squirrel (trapping); she moves to corner them (hunting). And she doesn’t bite them or eat them; she plays with them.
I have an old book by Lionel Haines, written well before my time in this business, and one of his best lines, for business buyers, is,
“You must act like a hunter not a trapper.”
It is important for business buyers, especially individuals and small business owners, to get the word out and see as many opportunities as possible because it’s hard to find a match. The “perfect” type of business for a buyer may be too large or too small, it could have a serious owner dependency, or a customer concentration issue.
It’s also important for:
- Job seekers – I hear from outplacement clients 70-90% of good jobs are never advertised or listed. You have to get out and find them.
- Salespeople – Find customers and/or referral sources means not being just an order taker.
- Business sellers – going after the pool of logical buyers in such a way word doesn’t get out the business is for sale.
- Business startups – you must always be on the hunt.
My world is buy-sell, so I emphasize this to buyer clients. Know what you want, go after it, keep in touch with brokers, network like crazy, and don’t be afraid to pick up the phone.
“Mother Nature, in her infinite wisdom, has instilled within each of us a powerful biological instinct to reproduce; this is her way of assuring that the human race, come what may, will never have any disposable income.” Dave Barry
Are You a Hunter or a Trapper?Are You a Hunter or a Trapper?Are You a Hunter or a Trapper?“You know you’re getting old when you get that one candle on the cake. It’s like, ‘See if you can blow this out.’”
