Blue Bird Opportunity

Volume 3. Issue 6.

What was said? “If they are all the right ‘blue birds,’ then no action is required”

Did someone really say that? Yes, in an email referencing a list of potential project / sales opportunities.

What does it mean? An easily made sales opportunity that is unexpected or very profitable.

Origin: Bluebird is defined as ‘happiness’ by the Oxford English Dictionary with its origin dating back to 1909. Most of us know the bluebird (also blue-bird and blue bird) as an actual bird found commonly in North America. The first mention of bluebird was in the “l’Oiseau bleu” 1909 play by Belgian dramatist and poet Maurice Maeterlinck, literally translating to “The Blue Bird” with the figurative speech used in the play “the bluebird of happiness.” Bluebirds tend to elicit happiness as seen in the song “ Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly” from the Wizard of Oz from 1939. The term has been increasingly used in corporate circles in the past few years and “Bluebirds are those new business opportunities, which seem to fly in through the window. Many professional services firms are tempted to pitch for every bluebird that comes their way, but this may not be a profitable use of their resources in the long-term (How to Manage Bluebirds). In a nutshell it’s sales slang for an opportunity (or actual sale) that presents itself to the salesperson or the selling organization without having made much direct effort in securing it.

Side Note: Most school buses in the US are made by the Blue Bird Corporation, which began in 1927 and is based in Fort Valley, GA.

Sources:
http://salesdictionary.com/index.php?term=b&tab=%3F
http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/bluebird
http://www.waywordradio.org/bluebird/
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=hermann+maurice+saxe
http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/new-words-in-business/1/13969.html
http://www.infobarrel.com/The_Blue_Bird_of_Happiness_Phrase:_Origins_and_Meanings

REFERRALS:  Do you LOVE Rema’s Idiom Blog and look forward to it all the time? If so, refer your friends!

————————————————————————————————————————–
You are currently subscribed to: REMA’s “Making Heads or Tails of Idioms” blog! To unsubscribe, follow the instructions. If you unsubscribe, please know that you will be disliked.