I was recently sitting in my office, attempting to get some quality time focused on writing.
I know — seems crazy that I can find quality time to actually write, but I give it my best shot!
My office is quiet except for the occasional car driving by and the sound of my keyboard.
I was focused when all of a sudden, I hear this bizarre sound of a buzzer. It starts, it stops, it starts again — each time a little louder and a little longer. Initially, I pass it off as merely an alarm on a surge protector of some other electronic device.
After a few moments, it’s clear the sound is not going to end and it’s also clear I’ve never heard it before. With my concentration now broken, I become focused on where the noise is coming from.
After a minute or two of searching, I find the source — an old alarm clock. You know the kind I’m talking about — it has hands that go round and round.
Somehow, the alarm on the clock got set, and at the appointed time, the clock buzzed.
I turn it off and remove the battery so it won’t accidentally get set again. As I do so, I am left asking myself a simple question.
How long has it been since I used a clock like this to wake up to?
Who knows? It could be 10 years or more. I don’t have any idea.
After settling back into writing, the lesson of the alarm clock resonated with me. I started thinking about potential prospects and clients from years gone by who I have lost touch with.
I began thinking about how much business could be there by going back not just a year or two, but even 10 years or more, to find lost prospects and clients.
It’s always cheaper to get business from someone who knows you than it is to go out and find someone new. It just makes sense to occasionally reach out to clients and prospects from years gone by.
When was the last time you dug deep into your database to make contact with prospects and clients from 5, 10, or 15 years ago?
There’s business to be had. Fortunately for me, I had the alarm clock to call my attention to it.
Copyright 2014, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
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