Fishing for Dollars

How to tell a nibble from a bite in the business world

Boring. Meandering. Wandering. Unsure. Unknown. These are all terms never used to describe successful business conversations. There's plenty more terms I could add to the list but let's stick to these for now.

For example, two weeks ago, I was manning my company's booth at a trade show. Things were creeping along and not showing any signs of picking up. After reshuffling the brochures for what must have been the hundredth time, I saw an older gentleman who was showing a disinterested curiousity in our equipment.

I headed over in his direction and started to strike up a conversation. My goal, of course, was to make some sales and make them as painlessly as possible. It's all a reluctant salesman could hope for and perhaps it works like that sometimes but today was not going to be one of those days.

After a couple minutes of small talk, I shifted into sales mode and started to ask more direct questions in hopes I'd get something concrete to go off of. However, it was obvious that this guy had attended his fair share of trade shows and was not going to be distracted from his other distraction - you know, the kind of distraction we all pretend to have when we don't really want to talk. After some further, fruitless attempts, I gave up and settled in for the indefinite chit-chat only to learn he was a retiree from the industry just "keeping an eye on things".

From long conversations with retirees to contract negotiations, I've come to notice something about what divides successful and unsuccessful businessmen - clear and simple communication.

Business, in a nutshell, is an extremely simple process - buy and sell. If only it were that easy. While business itself is easy, the people who get involved are not. They are what makes it all so unnessecarily complicated and confusing.

Ideas are nothing more than the same thought shared by two or more people. When you've got a basic idea like "buy and sell", you'd think it would be pretty well understood. For the most part, it is. Then again, it's not.

That's why clear communication with simple language is the best way to talk. It's crucial to say what is only necessary and timely. Don't get me wrong. There's plenty of time for the banter and the chit chat...as much as we all love it.

But if I may get down to brass tacks, all the talking we do isn't worth a used lollipop stick unless the core element of "buy and sell" is successfully shared by both sides. This only comes from clear communication on the basic idea behind it all - buying and selling each other's goods or services.

This is how to tell the real buyers and sellers from the rest who hang about in varying shades of murky entrepreneurship. Those who realize the entire relationship begins and ends with business take care of business first.

From the beginning, take care of business and business will take care of you. Avoid wasting your bait and time with the nibblers and wait for the bites. And just like we all learned when we were kids, you'll know when it's a bite.