Sometimes it was.
Sometimes it wasn’t.
Sometimes the better opportunity was already sitting inside relationships the business had spent years creating.
I’ve seen this from several sides of a business.
Former customers who haven’t been contacted in years.
Former suppliers nobody thought to call.
Professional relationships that could introduce the business to an entirely different group of prospects.
Yet when sales slow down, the first reaction is often to look farther away.
Buy more advertising.
Generate more leads.
Post more content.
Increase traffic.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of those things.
But before spending more money introducing yourself to strangers, I think it’s worth asking two questions:
Who already knows us but stopped doing business with us?
And:
Who already knows and trusts us and serves the kind of people we’d like to meet?
Those are two very different groups.
But they have something important in common.
You’re not starting the relationship from zero.