I will never be a full-time farmer, but my farming skills have improved over the past few years. More importantly, my business results improved when I started applying farming strategies to running my business. I am not suggesting you buy overalls and a pitchfork, but applying the following principals will increase your yields.



The three basic parts of farming are planting the seed, nurturing the growth, and harvesting the produce. In your business, this translates to networking (planting seeds), building credibility (nurturing), and making sales (harvesting).

Both farming and business are sciences. Farmers study techniques that have a proven history of working for themselves and others. They also keep up to date on technology and innovations in order to improve results. Your results will continually improve as you develop your planting, nurturing, and harvesting skills. This article is the first of two that will show you the most common mistakes professionals make when "planting" and "nurturing" prospects.

As in real estate, the biggest mistake made in planting seeds is location, location, location. Nearly any seed will grow somewhere, but no seeds will grow everywhere. Perhaps you love the mountains of Alaska and your favorite food is bananas. That does not mean that planting seeds for banana trees in Alaska is a good idea. Regardless of how well you nurtured the seeds, you would have little or no harvest because it is not the right climate for growth.

After reviewing your situation, you decide that Costa Rica is a better option. It still has mountains, which you like, but it has a climate that is a better fit for bananas. Does this guarantee success? No! Not every acre in Costa Rica is suited to growing bananas. Some places are too rocky, some are too sandy, some are too wet, and some are too dry. You do not want to throw your seeds on roads, rooftops, or into the water. In other words, being in the right general area is not good enough. You must give thought to where you are planting.

In this analogy, assume your location is what you offer (product or service) and your seeds are the people you target. In the business world, I have worked with some professionals whose target market and "product" were a horrible match. They were failing miserably. I know some whose target and product were really close, but the exact location or type of seed still needed a little tweaking to improve their results. It is not always easy to evaluate your target market with an unbiased mind. Ask a trusted, successful friend, or a professional consultant to make sure you have efficiently matched your seeds and your location.

The second planting mistake is planting the wrong quantity of seeds. You could plant too few. There is a risk that something could go wrong and you could have no harvest. Even if you do nurture and harvest, it may not produce enough. This is common sense, so let's flip to the other side. You could plant too many seeds. What would happen if you bought a 50 pound bag of seeds for a 10 acre farm and dumped the entire bag within five feet of the corner? Would some seeds take root and grow? Probably. Would you have wasted 99% of the seeds? Yes. I have seen too many professionals attend networking events and trade shows at a feverish pace and they meet over 100 people per week. But what happens with all those contacts? Very little. The professionals did not have time to properly follow up and nurture all of the seeds. They just waited to see if anything sprouted and only nurtured those two or three. They wasted the other seeds. Networking is an ongoing process and you should continually be meeting new people and developing new relationships in a quantity you can properly nurture.

The third planting mistake is by far the most common and most dangerous. It is addressed in the next article.