Opportunity Lifespans Are Measured in Dog Years

I know that you love your opportunity. You’ve had this opportunity for a long, long time. You were thrilled when you got it, and you rushed back to the office to enter it into your pipeline. You spent a lot of time with your then new opportunity, and you helped it to grow and mature.

But opportunities don’t age well. They don’t live as long as humans. You aren’t that much older than when you first found your opportunity, but your opportunity has grown to be quite old. The longer an opportunity lives in your pipeline, the more certain it is that the opportunity has serious health problems. It is no longer a healthy opportunity.

I know that you love this opportunity. He’s like an old friend, a trusted companion. You have had all kinds of adventures together. You have lots of cute and funny stories about you and your opportunity. Each day when you open up your sales force automation software, your opportunity is there, waiting for you, protecting you from an otherwise too shallow pipeline.

But you aren’t going to be able to keep your opportunity for your whole adult life. There comes a time when you have to part with your old opportunity. It’s old, its health has failed, and you have to let it go. You’ve only been keeping this opportunity alive because you can’t stand to part with it. You can’t imagine your life without your special opportunity. But it’s time to say goodbye and finally part with your opportunity.

It’s sad. It hurts. I know.

But this doesn’t have to be the end of the story. Over time, the pain will subside, and life will go on. I know nothing will ever replace your special opportunity, but you can go and find another opportunity. Many of your dream clients are suffering from neglect and abuse. They need a good home. You can go out and get yourself a new one.

If you want to keep an opportunity forever, make sure you help it grow into a client. That’s the only way you get to keep it.