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It’s Only Common Sense: Hear That? It’s Opportunity Knocking

I was reading the Sunday comics the other day when I came across a statement in “Hi and Lois” or maybe it was “Arlo and Janis” — one of those deep philosophical comic strips. One character says to the other, “He’s the kind of guy that when he hears opportunity knocking, he complains about the noise.” I love that. Not only because it’s funny, but because it’s also true.

Many of us do not recognize opportunity when it’s right in front of us. One thing IT companies always like to brag about is how powerful their firewalls are. You’ll hear them proudly say things like, “Our firewall is stopping 20,000 spam emails a day.” Or, “Don’t bother sending emails with attachments, we’ll block them.” I’m sure you’ve heard these statements. But did you ever think about how many of those 20,000 blocked emails offered potentially great business opportunities?

How often do we hear opportunity knocking but we complain about the noise?

If you’re in business, or better yet, if you’re in sales, you should be looking for any opportunity you can get your hands on. The number of opportunities you are missing because of all those blocked emails should be keeping you up at night.

Before you IT guys go off the deep end and start having visions of what could have happened with Y2K (and didn’t, by the way), I am not advocating letting all emails through. All I’m saying is couldn’t we just try applying a little common sense?

It’s like those passwords where you have to use all those comic book swear symbols (**&%$&) to make sure your password is secure. Does that make any sense? Especially after going through all the hassle of trying to create a password and then the company you are trying to access announces it has been hacked, and the hackers got away with 2 million email addresses and passwords.

One more question: Why does Apple Streaming need my password every three weeks? Do they think someone will come into my living room and steal my movies? Really?

Okay. That’s all well and good and fun, but is it, really? Let’s get down to some much more serious stuff. Let me ask you these questions:

If you are in sales, why do you ever have an “out of office” message? If you are in sales you are on all the time. That's why we use email and smartphones, so that we can be available and reachable day and night. Sorry, that comes with the territory. This is another perfect example of when you hear opportunity knocking, you complain about the noise.

If you are in sales or business, why isn’t your phone number part of your LinkedIn contact information? Are you afraid someone might actually call you? This is another example of when you hear opportunity knocking, you complain about the noise.

If you’re in sales—especially if you represent a firm, why don’t you have all your partners’ contact information on your company website? Are you afraid a customer might get in touch with you? This is another example of when you hear opportunity knocking, you complain about the noise.

If you’re in sales or in business at all, your job is to make sure you are easy to find and have as many people call you as possible. I’m sorry if you think this is a nuisance. This is your job. People must be able to get hold of you. It is the only way you will be successful. Otherwise, you’ll be that person who, when you hear opportunity knocking, you’ll complain about the noise.

Let’s switch gears and go to the other side of the desk. If you’re a buyer, you should want to talk to people. I know you will get a lot of calls. So what? Some of those calls could save your company a ton of money. The next brilliant solution could be around the corner of that next call. When did we get so scared to talk to people? When did we become paranoid about taking a simple phone call?

The job of any great entrepreneur is to take advantage of any opportunity that comes his or her way and to look for it in all the right places.

So, what will you do the next time opportunity knocks? You will open the door wide. Of course, you will.

It’s only common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.