Recently my daughter and I re-watched the movie “The Sandlot.” It is a wonderful and entertaining film about friendship, growing up, baseball and adventure. I loved it. But within this film I noticed a very important business lesson.
The several pre-adolescent members of this rag-tag sandlot baseball team often would lose a baseball into the backyard of a mysterious recluse. The backyard itself was home to a slobbering, behemoth canine the size of a horse. Legend had it that any kid venturing into that yard would never return. Every kid was convinced that the dog had already eaten several brave but unwise lads who had dared enter the dreaded yard littered with bones and scores of lost baseballs.
A good portion of the movie is devoted to the team’s elaborate attempts to retrieve a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth that had been put into play through ignorance and inadvertently knocked over the 10-foot-high, steel-paneled wall into the backyard patrolled by the demon dog. They built contraption after contraption and used technique after technique, but each failed when lives were threatened and the dog toyed with their juvenile attempts to recover the treasured autographed ball.
Finally, after an unlikely chase scene, the ball is retrieved but the dog is injured in the process. Overcome by compassion and responsibility, the boys rescue the dog, befriending the beast in the process. They finally lead the dog to the front door of the mysterious recluse and, with great angst, knock — not knowing what wrath they will encounter. The hulking gent who answers the door turns out to be a gentle giant who is also a fan of the grand old game of baseball. Crisis averted!
All throughout the movie these kids use incredible means and wonderful creativity to try to accomplish their goal of retrieving their prized ball. An amazing amount of energy is expended but without the desired result. Sound familiar? Many of our businesses do the same. We are very creative; we think outside the box; we are incredibly busy. Action is the plan of the day. Yet, we find that our goals are illusive.
In working with to help them discover and become the kinds of businesses they really want to be, I often find that they are taking the “sandlot approach” to getting new business — lots of activity and creativity, very few results. Like “The Sandlot” boys, they focus on indirect approaches to acquiring new customers and building their businesses. They create and execute creative ad campaigns and produce beautiful literature. But what they do not do is identify specific potential customers and directly ask them for their business.
If you cannot identify specific potential customers by name, you’re taking an indirect approach to reaching your goals. Always take the most direct approach to acquiring business first. Only after exhausting direct approaches should you venture into the world of the indirect. In simple terms, here’s the hierarchy of contact:
1. A personal visit
2. A personal phone call
3. An e-mail directly to the decision-maker
4. A direct mail piece addressed to the person you intend to reach
5. A mailer addressed only to the company you targeted
6. Print ads in targeted publications that you know your customers read
7. General print ads in nontargeted publications
8. Mass media ads
The rule of thumb is this: Do first things first. Don’t move to No. 2 until you’ve exhausted your opportunities with No. 1. Don’t move to No. 3, until you’ve done all you can with No. 2 and so on.
If you follow this strategy, you’ll see better results faster.
The key reason for the failure of these “Sandlot” boys was that they ignored the most obvious and direct solution to the problem. When they eventually told their story of woe to the mysterious recluse he made this startling proclamation: “Why didn’t you just knock, I’d have gotten your ball for you!”
D’oh!
David
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