Like Hunting Rabbits - Rethinking Your Marketing and Sales Strategy

Struggling to meet your marketing and sales goals? Feel like you are getting nowhere? You’re doing all the right things and yet don’t see results? Then consider the following found in The Jackrabbit Factor by Leslie Householder (available at Amazon.com).

The story goes something like this: "A man was traveling on a journey when he came to a field. In the field he saw a dog. The dog was jumping wildly, dashing to and fro. He would disappear in the long grasses each time he landed and proceed to jet into the air once again. The man was frightened and stood back for fear of catching some awful, strange disease that would cause him to dash off, jerking wildly and barking nonstop.

Slowly, he stepped aside and passed the alarming scene, making sure to stay on the nicely paved path he had been following. All the while he kept a suspicious eye on the ravenous dog so as not to become a victim of such antics. When he had finally passed the field and came to a clearing, why, there was the dog. Standing there with pride and hold a jackrabbit in its mouth. The dog casually walked pass the man and trotted off with his newly found catch.

Soon the man became hungry and began to think about the dog. He thought how nice it would be to have some rabbit stew. After some contemplating he turned around and follow the path for some time until he was at the very spot that he saw the dog in the grassy field. The man jumped into the deep grass and started running and jumping wildly. He darted and growled. He snarled and barked. Up, down, back and forth. He diligently tried to duplicated the antics of the dog he had seen earlier. He was sure that this would result in a rabbit to fill his hungry belly. Alas, at the end of the day he was still hungry and exhausted and never found a rabbit.

Sadly he hung his shoulders and returned to the paved road. He thought to himself, “This is a nicely paved road and many people have traveled it before. I’ll just stay on this path, bear with my hunger until I find something to eat along the way.” Notice several things in this story. (1) Duplicating the dog did NOT produce a rabbit. Instead it probably kept them far away. (2) It was good thinking on the man’s part to actually leave the path that many have traveled to find a rabbit. It is always advantageous to look around at other successful people and see what they are doing, and then do the opposite. Doing the same thing as everyone else is often the wrong move. Therefore, if you want a rabbit it may require that you leave the well-trodden path to find it. That brings us to…(3) Before you get in a frenzy and start duplicating the movements of the dog, you must first see the rabbit. Otherwise, all thee activity is in vain. Going through the motions without a goal is useless."

Goals, like that rabbit, must be visualized. Once identified, these goals must be pursued with true excitement and fervor. And remember, to start, you most likely will have to get off the beaten path to find and latch onto the proverbial rabbit.