Timing Matters in Fly Fishing and Business

Timing Matters in Fly Fishing and Business

I love to fly fish.   And I love driving growth in the business world. And I love connecting the dots to show how fly fishing and business are much more related than you might think.

 In my prior writings, I’ve explored how you need to have the right mindset to stabilize yourself in this current business environment.   I’ve also shared the value of insights, how they can provide you a competitive edge when going to market.   And in my last writing, I articulated the value of strategic teamwork and communications.    Today, I will talk about how critical timing, with the opportunity to drive incremental growth in business.   But first, we will start in the river in Eastern Oregon.  

I love fly fishing….now.   However, my love for fly fishing was a bumpy road, and it wasn’t until I learned the importance of timing until I went from “liking” fly fishing to “loving” fly fishing.       

I started fly fishing when I lived in Portland, Oregon.   In each season of the year, anglers can chase after either salmon or steelhead in the Pacific northwest.   Or, if you are more enticed by smaller fish, you can experience gold medal trout fishing on the Deschutes River.   I felt incredibly blessed to be in such an amazing and beautiful part of the country.

Despite being in the right place to experience world class fishing, I never caught a fish my first couple of years of my fly-fishing experience.   You got it.   Zilch.   Nada.   Nothing.   I am a very competitive person, and I like to see results.    But when I started fly fishing, I went thru a very dry season.   And after two years of learning and not succeeding, I was ready to give up.     

That is, until my fishing mentor, Sage, introduced me to small mouth bass fishing in eastern Oregon.   Now, you might be thinking “small mouth bass fishing in Oregon?   Don’t you live in Georgia where you can bass fish year round?  Why not talk about a fall coho salmon run, or a winter steelhead run, or a Spring King Salmon run? That all happens in the Pacific NW.”        

Well, what if I told you that for a finite time each year, an angler can catch 100 fish a day on a river in Eastern Oregon.   And it was on this river, I caught my first fish on a fly rod.   And after that, I was hooked.

A quick thought about Sage.    He is part of a very elite group of fly fishers.    While my other mentors and friends are part of the 90/10 group, Sage is part of 98/2.    For my analyst friends out there, he is at the far left hand side of a bell curve.   He is probably the best fisherman I have ever had the opportunity to know.   Period.  

Our journey to this hotbed of small mouth bass fishing,  the John Day river, starts by driving due east out of Portland on a warm August morning.   As we cut thru the Columbia River Gorge area, to your left you see the mighty Columbia River.   To your right, you see the high peaks of the Cascade Mountains.   And, if you look closely, you will see waterfalls crashing down the side of the Cascades along highway 84.  

After driving for about an hour, the lush green terrain changes to the rocky high desert.   After driving thru the Dalles, we cut due south and start driving in-land.   After a few twists and turns, carving our way thru massive wind turbine farms and a few turns onto vaguely labeled country roads, we arrive at a non-descript parking lot.  

About 20 yards away from the parking lot, we encounter the John Day River.

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While the John Day river is a very long river that empties into the Columbia River, this particular section of river is maybe 20 yards wide.   At most, the river depth is maybe 3.5 feet deep in the deepest holes.  And it is here, during a specific 3 week span in late summer, someone can use a reliable wooly bugger on this river and have a 100 fish day.  

For this small mouth bass experience on this specific section of river, timing is everything.  Come earlier in the season or later, you can catch some fish.  But come during this specific window of time, it is an experience you likely will never replicate ever again in your life.  

Every 5 casts or so you are likely to catch a fish.    As you can imagine, this experience is just what the doctor ordered for a fly fisherman thirsting for success…any type of success.   But I was not just successful that day, I was overwhelmed by the results.    

Let’s face it.   I was not a good fly fisherman at that time.   But on that day, I was.    Regardless of where I fished in the river or how I cast my fly, I had fish after fish on my line.  

How does the old saying go…”eventually even a blind squirrel eventually gets a nut”?   Today, I was that squirrel.   It was incredible.  

So, how does catching 100 small mouth bass in Oregon relate to business?   Its is simple:   timing matters.

In business, there is a science to timing.    I will quickly explore 3 areas when timing matters most when driving growth.   

Seasonal Acquisition:  

If you are a business leader or CMO with the agility to implement pricing elasticity throughout the year, pay attention to this section.

Seasonality can have a significant impact on your business and profitability.    Look at any US holiday on your calendar, and you can see how different companies showcase different products/services on and around those holidays.    In fact, these times are so profitable, retailers are creating ways to extend these shopping seasons as long as possible.   

This is a Business 101 thought.    However, I encourage you to look a little closer at the details around some of these holidays and see the strategic insight you can learn.   

Specifically, take a look at either Valentines Day or Mothers Day.   If you are like me, I typically buy flowers for these holidays.    Next time you are in the market to buy flowers around either of these days,  I encourage you to watch the prices of flowers at your local grocery store 2 weeks before, week of (and leading up to the holiday), then one week after.  

On average, grocery stores increase their price on flowers 2-3x around these holidays.   However, if you see shop for those exact same flowers a few weeks before, or the day or week after, you will see greatly reduced prices.    In essence, you will see a bell curve on their pricing structure and strategy.  

In short, these companies maximize their revenue opportunity/revenue per purchase around these times of high consumer demand.    Like it or not, this is a smart pricing model to maximize their revenue in the market.       

If you are in a business that has pricing elasticity capabilities, I encourage you to analyze your seasonal sales trends, identify those peak times of year for your product/service, and test this pricing strategy.       

Customer Marketing and Communications:  

If you are not an everyday marketer, this section is for you.  

In order to drive sustained business growth via your marketing investment, you need to have a diversified approach to your messaging and tactics.   You need to be relevant and top of mind of the consumer when they need/are ready to buy. 

It can become very expensive to acquire a customer/sell a product.   Why?   It boils down to three quick concepts:

First, a customer needs to be aware of your company and the products you provide.  Strategically, organizations try to build an emotional connection between the consumer and the brand.   This is what marketers describe as either “awareness” or “top of the funnel” marketing for your brand or product.  

Second, a customer needs to think or consider that your product/brand would be a good fit for their needs.    This is more of a logical/cerebral approach to your marketing strategy.    The goal here is to educate and influence the customer to think differently about your product, so that when they are ready to buy, they would consider your product as a viable solution to their problem.   This is what marketers often call “consideration” or “middle of the funnel”.        

Finally, it is time for action.  This is “conversion” or “bottom of the funnel” marketing.   This includes your product positioning, your pricing (inclusive of sales/promotions), and creating a sense of urgency.   And for better or worse, this is where most marketing investment sits- trying to reduce their cost of acquisition  (because this is the easiest to track from an ROI perspective).  

So how does this “marketing funnel” relate to timing?    Simply put, you cannot control when a customer is in need of your product or service.   However, you can be prepared and positioned in the consumer’s mind as a solution to their problem when they are ready to buy.   Harmonizing your marketing messaging with the awareness, consideration, and conversion approach will enable you to win that customer sale when they are ready to buy.  

Existing Customer Strategy/Retention:

Finally, if you are a President, CFO, or CMO of a subscription/membership business model, this section if for you.

If you do not have an existing retention/customer strategy, you are leaving revenue on the table.   A customer does not just magically wake up one day and chose to cancel your subscription service.   There are specific moments in time within each customer’s journey where you have the opportunity to build that customer relationship and set yourself up for future revenue growth (upgrade/product adoption), or fracture that relationship (and give a customer a reason to leave your organization).  

For the business leader of a subscription service, identifying those moments in time is critical to your success.  After these times are identified, you can build mitigation strategies on/around those moments of time that will significantly impact your customer growth.    And the beautiful thing about focusing on existing customer strategies, most of these opportunities can be mitigated within your control.

In the current business environment with inflation and rising customer acquisition costs, there has never been a better time to invest in customer retention efforts.   There are many case studies available that shows the profitability and ROI of a successful customer experience/retention approach, and how it is a smarter investment than acquisition for mature businesses.  

And if you need help exploring this idea, contact me, I am here to serve your organization.     

I personally have enjoyed reflecting on fly fishing and business, reliving my success and failures, and sharing ideas how you can drive more growth in your business.  

I love to fly fish.   And I love to drive growth in business.   But most importantly, I want to see people achieve their goals.   I hope you enjoyed this series.  

If you know someone who could benefit from this or any of my writings on the synergies between fly fishing and business, I encourage you to share/repost, so that you too can help impact their business growth (or entice them to learn how to fly fish).