The smushy brown ?? of your business

My kids love bananas.

Except when they don’t.

Sometimes I buy a few bananas, get home, set them on the counter, and wake up the next morning with the big idea that I’m going to put banana slices in my cereal only to stumble to the kitchen and discover that somebody already ate all the damn bananas!

Other times I buy lots of bananas (because clearly the people who live in my house looooove bananas), get home, set them on the counter, and 4 or 5 days later I’m thinking “ugh, nasty!” as I toss the mushy brown things into the trash… there’s only so much banana bread I can make or eat!

It’s like my kids get together while I’m working and say “You know what would be fun? Let’s make Mom do that thing where she gets all crazy and starts talking to herself while she slams things around in the kitchen… this week we are all going to ask for bananas at every snack. Tell her how much you love them. Then next week, when she buys extra bananas, make sure you gag or cry at the sight of a banana any time she tries to get you to eat one, OK?”

They are just about 7, 5, and 2, so they probably aren’t that organized (yet), but I wouldn’t put it past them. ??????

Last week was “phase 2” of their grand banana plan. I was on the phone with a friend while I was cleaning up my kitchen and I mentioned the whole banana boycott situation and that I was going to have to toss these organic bananas.

“You’re going to toss them? Why?” she said.

Clearly, I didn’t paint a vivid enough picture of the smushy fruit sitting on my counter.

“Ummm, because they are all soft and brown and gross.”

I mean, duh!

She asked how old they were and when I answered she said “don’t toss them! They’re gold!! Use them to make something else - like banana cake!”

Banana cake…!

I like the sound of that.

Here I was thinking I wasted more effort and money because my kids hadn’t eaten them when they were in their prime, but there was still an opportunity to turn them into something awesome.. Outside of what I would have thought (I’m done right now with COVID banana bread).

So why am I telling you this?

Because I’d be willing to bet that you’ve got leads that started off like wonderfully, perfectly ripe organic bananas… but you haven’t followed up with them in quite a while and now they’re sitting there on the counter looking all sad and mushy and brown. ??

You’re tempted to toss them. You tell yourself they’ve probably forgotten all about you and moved on to someone else (the leads, not the bananas). Or you are embarrassed to pop back up and connect with them after waiting so long.

Sure, you could toss them…

Or you could make some metaphorical banana cake!

You could pick up the phone, or send an email, or a text, or a message (or even bake them some actual banana cake) and reach out to start a conversation with them.

Don’t assume it’s too late.

It wasn’t too late for my bananas and it’s not too late for your leads. After all, you’re not going to get the yes if you don’t reach out and start the conversation.

Since I know you aren’t one to back down from a challenge, here’s my challenge to you…

Go back through your notes, messages, emails, and texts (or, you know, just rack your brain a bit) and find 3-5 names of people you need to follow up with and then reach out to them. Let them know you were thinking of them and that you’d like to catch up. Open the conversation.

Who knows… you may just bake up a batch of new client banana cake!

You can thank me later.

P.S. I used the word “banana” 23 times in this article (make that 24). Surely I deserve some sort of reward for that, don’t you think? ??????