There’s a true story of an African farmer who owned vast acres of land, however, heard stories of how many other farmers were becoming millionaires by discovering and mining diamonds across the continent. This farmer decided to sell his farm, take the proceeds and venture on his quest to find and mine his own diamonds as he can also become rich in millions. He searched far and wide, long and hard only to never discover the precious diamonds he was looking for. Finally, old, tired and rejected, he threw himself in a river and drowned.
Meanwhile, the farmer who bought his farm happened to come across a small stream while walking the land one day and noticed a big shiny stone in the stream. Amazed by its beauty, he decided to bring it home and place it on the mantel over his fireplace as so he can continually admire his amazing find.
Several weeks later a man was visiting him and approached the large stone on the mantel, took it in his had to feel the weight and admire it and almost fainted as he realized what it was. The farmer noticing his faintness asked if he was alright. The man replied, yes, of course, I’m okay, however, do you have any idea what this big stone is? The farmer replied that it simply was a beautiful stone that he found in a nearby stream that he placed in his home to admire. The visitor then shared that the stone was actually the largest diamond ever mined from the African continent. The farmer really couldn’t believe it as he shared that there were many other stones just like it in the stream. They now discovered that this was potentially the largest diamond mine on the entire continent of which it was.
The prior farmer had actually unknowingly owned free and clear the largest diamond mine on the entire continent of Africa. However, not knowing this followed through on his desire and went searching all over the continent for diamonds that were right underneath his very own feet all along.
The lesson of this story is that you first must be clear on exactly what you are looking for looks like, as when you actually see it you will recognize it. Second, sometimes instead of going elsewhere to look for what you want or what you think you may need, you may want to first look in your own house as you may just be standing on the diamond mine that you’re actually searching for.
I witness this same phenomenon happening in businesses where many proprietors are looking in a host of different areas for ways to find more customers when they could be right underneath their own feet.
Take a moment to ask yourself the following questions while taking inventory on what steps you may need to administer to mine your own diamonds.
Have you actually taken the time to write down all the qualities and characteristics of your Ideal Client? Realize that if you are not crystal clear on what your ideal client looks like, you may miss to identify them when they are sitting right in front of you.
Have you rated your clients as to identify you’re top A clients? When you identify these clients, do you do anything extra for them? Do you take them out to lunch to acknowledge and thank them for being such a consistent quality client? Remember, winners hang out with winners and they just may have a few referrals waiting for you went you properly ask.
Do you have a documented well thought out referral strategy that you proactively share and communicate with your prospects and clients?
Take inventory of the above and create strategies accordingly, take action to implement and communicate these strategies and you just may realize that you ‘ve been sitting on your diamond mine all along.