“comforting but not effective” is a direct quote from Stephen Dodd in a meeting we were in together.
Although I’m not a fisherman (fisherperson?) myself you’ll see from the picture I at least know people who may be a bit obsessed with fishing. Which may be why Stephen’s story that goes along with the quote impacted my brain so thoroughly.
This is me remembering the story…
Stephen and his son went fishing – somewhere they’ve gone for years, took the boat down to a bay they always go to. Sheltered from the rest of the lake it appears to be a fantastic place to fish.
They get to the bay – and of course make a few casts. NOTHING
The difference this year is they had a cool new fish finder that uses sonar technology to show where the fish are. So they turn it on… the bay they’ve been coming to for years has ZERO fish in it… not one image on the screen.
Coming back to this bay is “comforting but not effective.”
They started driving the boat with the fish finder on. All of the sudden in a completely different section of the lake lots of fish showed up.
They started casting – hit after hit, reeling them in EFFECTIVE.
Of course Stephen thought of sales – going where you always go for business may be comforting, but not effective. Using new techniques – technology – etc may be much more effective. This week make sure you’re checking in on the effectiveness of your sales activity.