Do You Prospect Like an Angler Fish?

I read a quote this morning that referred to “lethargic, lie-in-wait predators”. No, I wasn’t reading a diatribe about sales prospecting written by Mike Weinberg.

The article was in the New York Times science section, and it was about the habits of the reclusive angler fish. The angler fish is so called because it has a little “antenna” that dangles in front of its mouth, tipped by a faint colored light that gullible fish find irresistible. When they come close enough, the fish suddenly opens its huge mouth, which creates a vacuum that sucks in the prey, and it chomps down, trapping it inside.

What a life the angler fish has! They don’t have to do much work, and food just comes to them. By the way, the angler fish that do this are all female. The male angler fish has it even easier. It’s tiny compared to the female, and once it mates, it attaches itself permanently to the female and actually gains sustenance via her body—sort of like a sales manager, to extend the metaphor.

It’s a good life if you can get it. Some salespeople seem to strive for this type of life, where they use social media to produce content that acts as a faint flickering light in a world of darkness, attracting buyers close enough that they can be swept right in to their sales funnels. It would sure make selling much easier if this strategy worked all the time.

The angler fish strategy may seem attractive to a salesperson, but remember, it only works on gullible bottom feeders. If that doesn’t describe your ideal prospect, you still have to go out and find them one at a time, the old-fashioned way.