There are just over 2,000 lakefront homes in Winter Haven.
And every year, somewhere between 80 and 100 of those homes will sell.
We don’t know exactly which ones yet.
But we know with complete certainty that the homes coming onto the market will be a subset of those 2,000.
Those 80 or 100 sellers aren’t going to appear from somewhere else.
They’re already here.
That’s what makes visible prospects so interesting.
If your business depends on lakefront homeowners selling their homes, you don’t need to advertise to everybody in Winter Haven.
You know exactly where the opportunity is.
You can draw a circle around those 2,000 people.
Now, most businesses would look at that list and think:
“How can I convince all 2,000 people to hire me?”
But that’s not really the challenge.
The challenge is identifying the 80 or 100 who are going to sell this year…and getting known by them before they make themselves visible to everybody else.
If you think like a chess master and look two or three moves ahead, you realize you have time.
Over the next two years, approximately 200 of those lakefront homeowners will sell.
Over five years, it may be 400 or 500.
That gives you a wonderfully long runway to become the market maker.
You can continually attract people who want to buy lakefront homes…
While staying in communication with the people who already own them.
And each month, you can offer those owners something that helps reveal who’s moving closer to a decision.
A lakefront house-price report.
A list of recent lakefront sales.
An update on what buyers are looking for right now.
You’re not trying to convince all 2,000 people to sell.
You’re watching for the inevitable 80 to raise their hands.
This same thinking applies almost everywhere.
A certain number of business owners will sell their companies.
A certain number of investors will retire.
A certain number of homeowners will replace their roofs.
The opportunity isn’t always hiding in a bigger audience.
Sometimes it’s hiding in a small, knowable group of people…and the patience to be there when the inevitable happens.
You don’t need to predict the future when the numbers have already told you what’s going to happen.
You just need to be there when it does.
You just need to be there when it does.