One of the most common themes I come across, when meeting with the owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), is their inability to create new sales.

These people are often erudite, well-educated, experienced, possessing a firm understanding of their industry. However, converting all that brainpower into new cash in the bank is often too complex for them.

My role? I am the business coach and mentor, who is supposed to uncover for them the path to utopia. What are they missing?

First, a quick reminder. SMEs lack resources. I am not just talking about extra cash. There is rarely the time, let alone the personal, available to devote to sophisticated marketing campaigns. The CEOs need instant results, driven by a minimal set of inputs.

I am describing this background, because the subject came up this week with three of my Jerusalem-based clients. They appeared to eye me with a combination of desperation, combined with a look of challenge. ‘I bet you really do not know the answer’, they seemed to be asking.

So, one after the other, I took them through a very practical four-step process.

1) Who are the potential clients sought after? Define them.

2) Where are they located?

3) Who do you know in these areas?

4) And why have you not called your contacts for a reference or introduction?

The point is that most of us tend to wait for new clientele to come our way. We are passive in our approach. At least that way, it allows to justify emotionally / mentally why ‘we are so wonderful but others just do not understand it’.

Instead, we should be more proactive, focusing on where the money is waiting for us and then talking – communicating directly – to the current owners of the fortune. And amazingly, most of these contacts are right in front of us. To prove my point: This is why so many successful SMEs can be found on LinkedIn, a social media tool designed to make the global world of commerce much smaller.

Over the past week, some of my clients in Jerusalem have been busy on the phone, reconciling themselves to months of forgone opportunities. And yes, I believe that the first contracts have started to come in.