To Find The Perfect Clients, Don’t Fish Where All The Fish Are 

Don’t Fish Where the Fish Are: The Counter-Intuitive Guide to Finding Your Perfect Clients

At Growth Experts, we’re about to tell you something that might sound like business blasphemy: “Fish where the fish are” is outdated advice. It might be actively hurting your business.

Picture LinkedIn right now. With over 930 million users, it’s like a pond where every fisherman in town is casting their line. Those “buy now!” DMs? They’re about as welcome as a shark at a swimming lesson.

The Masters of Alternative Venues

Let’s look at a handful of companies across different industries that successfully fished in unexpected waters:

Automotive: Rolls-Royce Ditched Car Shows

While other luxury car manufacturers compete for attention at motor shows, Rolls-Royce made an ingenious move: they decided to exhibit at air shows instead.

Why? Because when you’re feeling cars that start at £360, 000, someone considering a £40 million private jet won’t blink at the price.

Drinks: Red Bull Gave Students Wings

Instead of battling for store shelf space, Red Bull created one of the most successful marketing strategies in history: its Student Brand Manager programme. It recruited university students to be brand ambassadors, effectively turning its target market into its marketing team. 

The result? They’ve dominated the energy drink market for over two decades, with a 43% market share.

Banking: Fly American Express

AmEx didn’t just create airport lounges; they revolutionised the concept of premium credit card services. Their Centurion Lounges turned mundane airport waiting time into a luxury experience for cardholders. 

This strategy helped them achieve a 95% retention rate among premium cardholders.

Finding Your Perfect Pond: A Strategic Framework

It’s easy to appreciate a brilliant decision once the results are evident—but we bet you the Rolls Royce, Red Bull and AmEx marketing teams took longer than a tea break to develop alternative venues for their products. 

It takes some thought. 

To help you out, we’ve created a framework with step-by-step suggestions for how to find an alternative venue that will be measurably more successful:

Three essential elements:

1. Concentration of Decision-Makers

   – What percentage of attendees can buy from you?

   – Are they the final decision-makers?

   – Do they have the budget authority?

2. Natural Alignment

   – Does this venue align with your ideal client’s lifestyle?

   – Can you create genuine connections here?

   – Is there a logical link between their presence here and your service?

3. Low Competition Density

   – How many of your competitors are present?

   – Is this space already saturated with sales pitches?

   – Can you stand out naturally?

Watch Out For These Time-Wasters!

🚩 The “Seems Fancy” Trap

Just because a venue is expensive or exclusive doesn’t mean your buyers are there. An elite chess tournament might be prestigious, but you’re in the wrong room if you’re selling HR software.

🚩 The “Everyone’s Going” Fallacy

If other businesses in your industry are flocking to the place you think is a better alternative, it’s probably already oversaturated. Remember, we’re trying to avoid the crowded pond.

🚩 The “Perfect Demographic” Mirage

Even if the demographics match perfectly on paper, consider whether people are in the right mindset. A CEO at their child’s rugby match isn’t the same as a CEO at a business lunch. 

Think Outside the Pool 

No two pools should be the same. Here are a few ways different businesses can think more laterally:

Business Coaches: Ditch the hotel conference rooms for aquariums and science museums. While your competitors fight over fluorescent lighting and stale biscuits, you’ll find CEOs relaxed and receptive in their natural weekend habitat, probably explaining jellyfish to their kids.

Tech Recruiters: Everyone else is drowning in job fair mediocrity. Meanwhile, gaming conventions and hackathons are packed with talented developers showing off their skills for fun. Imagine that – people wanting to demonstrate their abilities.

B2B Software Companies: Trade that tech conference lanyard for a golf club. While your competitors perfect their booth small talk, you’ll build relationships between putts and decision-makers who suddenly have four hours to kill. Or try Padel, if golf kills you. 

Executive Training: Corporate training centres are efficient, but high-end gym classes are full of C-suite executives who are already primed for self-improvement. Nothing says “professional development” like endorphins and ambition dressed in Nike.

Financial Advisors: You could haunt banking halls like everyone else. Or you could take your wealth management expertise to sports clubs and marinas—where wealthy people enjoy managing their time. Funny how investment strategies sound better with a sea breeze.

How To Measure Success In Your New Pond

Before diving in, create a simple scorecard:

✓ Cost per meaningful conversation

✓ Quality of leads generated

✓ Follow-up meeting conversion rate

✓ Time to first meeting

✓ Competitor presence score (1-10)

Getting Started: Your First Alternative Venue

1. List your ideal client’s top three non-work activities

2. Research venues and events related to these activities

3. Visit these places as a guest first

4. Create a natural reason to be there (sponsor, host, participate)

5. Track your results against the scorecard above

The key is to be where your ideal clients are relaxing, learning, or enjoying themselves – they’re not meant to see you coming. 

And remember: The best fishing spots are often the ones where nobody else is fishing.

As for our next workshop, we’re considering hosting it at the aquarium!

Jason Bagley Founder, Growth Experts

I'm a business builder, the founder of Growth Experts, sometimes public speaker, and a member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization. Mostly though, I’m just a dad to Eva & Cruz and a husband to Karina.