Back in the early '80s, while I was a graduate student at the University of Maryland I found myself needing some extra cash. I took a job working on the University Poultry Farm.
I don't know what my official job title was, but my job was basically to take the chicken eggs out of the nests each morning and place them in an incubator.
The incubator had the perfect temperature (about 99 degrees F) for the eggs to grow and develop, and hatching occured in about 3 weeks.
That was my job…. feed the incubator with fresh eggs, make sure the incubator was working correctly, and remove the chicks when they hatch.
Yeah, it was a bit boring but it wasn't hard and I needed the money.
So why am I telling you this?
Because there's a lesson to be learned here for your business.
What Does Incubating Chicken Eggs Have to do With Your Business?
Everything.
You see, in essence the chicken incubator is your business.
And the eggs are your prospects.
Before you go off thinking that I've lost a few screws, hear me out.
As I was doing my boring job, I noticed that there were 3 types of eggs:
The Unhatched Eggs (Your “Tire Kickers”)
Many times, the chicks within the eggs would begin to develop but stop for some reason. They would never hatch.
Do you know prospects like that? The ones who show a bit of interest, take a few steps and then retreat?
Heck, I've found that most of my prospects are like that.
They are the Tire Kickers.
The ones who want to take a quick look but run off before they have to make any kind of commitment.
The Sneak a Peek Eggs (Your “I'll Try it for a Month and See How It Goes” Prospects)
Sometimes, the chick would fully develop in the egg and would start the hatching process by making a small hole.
But for some reason (perhaps they were too weak), they would never be able to finish the process and would die off before hatching.
I hated when that happened.
In your business, these are the people who are a bit more serious about your business and may even take the first step, perhaps in taking a free or low cost trial.
But they are also the ones who go into it with the attitude of “I'll try it for a month and see if this works.”
We all know the result of that.
They are like the chick — they make a small hole, they take a peak, don't like what they see and retreat back into the egg.
The Hatched Chick (Your “I'm Ready to Commit, Let's Go Make Some Money” Prospect)
A percentage of eggs would actually develop into hatched chicks.
When I found one, I treated it like gold — carefully removing it from the incubator and putting it into it's new warm, cozy nest with just the right feed for it to develop into healthy, adult chickens.
These are your Action Prospects, the ones who are ready to commit and full engage in your business.
These are the prospects who get most of your attention, as well they should.
You Need to Keep Your Incubator Full of Eggs
In my job on the farm, the only way to give the farmer a continual supply of baby chicks for his farm was to keep adding eggs to the incubator every single day.
That's because only a percentage of the eggs would hatch out, 21 days later.
If I skipped a week or a month, I would have a huge gap in my chick supply.
It's the same with your business.
You must be adding leads to your business on a consistent basis.
Your leads are your eggs.
You must incubate them, nurture them, let them see what you are about and get comfortable with you.
This takes time.
Some of them will drop off and go somewhere else.
Some will maintain their interest and even take a look, only to back off… this was not their time.
Others will take the plunge and join you in your business.
But if you don't replenish your incubator with fresh leads, you'll have huge gaps in your business.
How Do You Get Your Leads?
Getting leads is something we all need to do.
It can be easier said than done, though.
Some people focus on free social media, while others want faster results and try their hand at Pay Per Click advertising.
Smart marketers have multiple sources of leads that are continually filling their incubator.
Need ideas for Generating Leads?
You can learn 25 Seldom Used Marketing Methods to generate massive traffic to your business today, simply by watching this free training.
Your Turn
How are you keeping your incubator full with leads?
Are you struggling?
Where do you need help?
LEAVE A COMMENT and let's talk about it.
24 replies to "What do Baby Chicks and Egg Incubators Have to Do With Your Business?"
You offered us so many interesting ideas and thoughts, that I have to think a little bit about this stuff.
Just like the egg, business needs to nurture and incubate to stay alive. nice post!
Glad this post caused you to spend some time to think, Becca.
Is that business is profitable I didn’t think how much popular it was but in mine country the chick Rs from 20-50 rupees only.
I don’t know how profitable it is in your country, Rizwan. I was using it as an example for marketing purposes only!
Hey Bob,
Nice post. 80’s was a long time ago and that was surely a boring job. Your comparison of eggs and incubator to Internet marketing or business in general is an awesome idea. I agree that some leads don’t even try your product, some might try it for a while then leave and some will totally embrace your product. A perfect representation on how eggs hatch thru an incubator.
Very nice read Bob, keep it up.
Noah
Thanks, Noah… there are many similarities between the two, don’t you think?
Appreciate the comment!
I LOVED this analogy! So true but also fun. I have a little story for you, too: when I taught kindergarten we hatched eggs in the classroom and one egg started to hatch but then stopped. It was a bit like your “sneak a peek” scenario. But I couldn’t bear to watch it die, so super carefully I pulled a tiny bit of shell off and the chick started trying to hatch again. After a while it stopped and so I pulled another bit of shell off. This went on for a few hours and finally the chick came out, completely bedraggled and collapsed into a heap. So we took care of it and it started to get stronger and eventually it grew up…. into a giant and very loud roster!
So there is another kind of client. The one who you almost let go, who looks like a basket case, but you nurture him a little and eventually he “grows up” and becomes one of your strongest clients! A little bit of TLC with chickens – and clients – can go a long way to helping a good relationship “hatch”.
Thanks for this story and analogy, I really enjoyed it.
Good call, Carol.. yes you are exactly right.
There are the prospects like this, but they take a lot of time and effort to nurse. It can be worth it, but one has to make the decision on whether or not to try.
The trouble is, that for every 1 of the prospects you describe there are probably 100 that sneak a peak and never do anything. It can be hard to tell the difference!
What a terrific analogy, Bob. Having been in network marketing in the past I surely know what you mean.
As for the ones who didn’t know how it works in the world of prospects they should have a full understanding with this so cool and clear illustration.
Sadly, the online business is full of tire kickers. It’s the same thing with affiliate marketers as well. Some folks come in and they think that all they have to do is set up a WordPress blog and wait “kind of waiting and see if the eggs are going to hatch, but without the incubator 🙂
Then , you tell them how it works, you explain them that it takes work and they are gone.
Thanks for the very good post. Certainly a keeper 🙂
Thanks Sylviane… I think its because most people are looking for easy and fast.
If it’s neither, they aren’t interested. Part of the problem is them, but also we as marketers must bear some of the responsibility as well, in my opinion.
Our hypey marketing messages make it seem that success will be both easy, quick and inexpensive. We attract the tire kickers with this kind of marketing, right?
Thanks for your comment – it reminded me to make this distinction!
What an ideal comparison, It’s seems that a beginner is an egg which longing for the knowledge that she might be learned if she pass all the way and begin to grow up accordingly the thing been discovered…
Thanks!
What a wonderful story you shared Bob and boy have you done a lot in your life. I bet it sure was fun watching those chicks pop out.
Great comparison to what we are doing here online. I know that some people get frustrated because getting prospects seems hard, time consuming and a slow process but with consistency continuing to work toward that goal will end up getting you the results. The webinar you share for those still looking for different ways to drive prospects to their site is rock solid.
I know for a fact that if you stick with it and hang in there, it does work. It takes a lot of hard work and patience but I believe it’s worth the wait. You’re building a lasting and sustaining business.
Great story Bob, thanks for sharing this with us.
~Adrienne
It is a slower process in the beginning Adrienne… but after consistent effort on the right things, you start to see a bit of success, then some more and pretty soon it snowballs. It can be hard to wait for and it takes some faith… like knowing that things will work out even when you can’t see the result yet.
You are the perfect example for this. You have related your story to me and I know that the successes you are realizing now in your business are only because of the effort you put in early on.
Thanks for your insights, Adrienne. Always a pleasure to see your smiling face here!
I find this blog very useful.. Thanks for sharing your insights with us! Keep us well informed.. 🙂
I’m really glad, Lanaya… keep coming back for more!
If the baby bird is an immature nestling, (bare or fuzzy), it should be returned to the nest if possible. Fledglings are are feathered and are likely learning to fly which is an essential stage of development in their lives.
You sound like you know a thing or two about this subject, Samantha! Have you worked with baby chicks before?
Interesting analogy can be made to business. When newbies try to break out on their own too soon, they often fall flat on their face and need the help of those more experienced for some more “seasoning.’
But for the fledgling marketer, it is time to stretch their muscles and fly on their own. They may fall a few times but they need to get up and keep trying. Sounds like a familiar story in the business world, don’t you think?
Love this, thanks for sharing!
Hello; Your point is obvious but still important. We have to get up every morning and put more eggs in our incubator. We have to write the blog posts, promote the blog, send out emails, and call when necessary. We also have to look for new places to find more eggs or that is customers. . And when one of the eggs, customers, makes it all the way to being a live healthy chicken, that is serious client; we have to treasure it and nurture it. great post, max
Hey Max… you go to the head of the class! You got it exactly right.
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Hi Bob,
This is a bit off topic, but the beginning of your story reminds me of the time I was in 4H as a kid and I had the task of raising a bunch of chicks into full grown chickens. I think there were something like 25 of them. After they were ‘of age’, my mother ‘took care of them’ with an axe and a chopping block. Needless to say we ate quite a bit of chicken for a while. Of course, I am not sure if it was chicken or rabbit we were eating because we raised rabbits also and I was told it was ‘chicken’ pot pie we were eating when it was really rabbit. I guess, to a kid, rabbit tastes like chicken…
LOL Marshall… that is a great story! Sounds like fond memories.
Bob, Great post! I like the fact that you made the post interesting with “Chicks and Egg Incubators” which made sense. Cool post 🙂
Thanks, Joseph!