History repeats itself and those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them! You've heard that one before, yet may not have thought about that old history lesson in relation to your selling career. Well, the value of this lesson has a lot more to do with sales than you might think... let's take a look.
There are great lessons to learn and strategies to build when you understand the conditions under which you win and those under which you lose. Regularly going through a "win, loss" review will allow you to understand where you typically succeed and where you typically fail and why. Once you understand the conditions that drive the outcome of your selling activities you'll know better how to respond to any given situation. You can build new strategies to support your efforts and increase your percentages!
A company we work with did a six month "win, loss" review (history) on price quotes issued to prospects who they had not previously done business with. They believed that quickly responding to requests for price quotes demonstrated a high degree of responsiveness and would win them business. They knew they were not winning often, but were shocked when they found out their efforts had only gotten a 4% return (4% of quotes yielding orders). By looking at history it became quite apparent that they needed to change their strategy of "demonstrating responsiveness". Not only was it not working but it was costing a lot of staff time and resources.
The new strategy, based on what they learned from looking at their history, was to call every request for pricing first and ask questions about the request. They found that most of the time it ended up being a "price check", but also found that through making a personal contact they actually got information and ended up closing 15% of the opportunities instead of 4%. They also were able to identify that most of the "wins" were not being serviced by one vendor exclusively. So, learning from this historical record drove them to ask the question "how many vendors are you currently buying from?" When they got the answer "one" they knew it was unlikely they would win and drove them to ask more questions to qualify the opportunity better.
This ends up being a clear example of "learning from history and not repeating the mistakes of the past!" Learn from history and you'll be winning more of your opportunities. We'll cover some other "history lessons" in upcoming posts... happy hunting!
A few months ago (July), a good friend of mine shared with me that he had one of the biggest deals ever done by his company "on the tee". It was a monster, that would not only "make his year" but catapult him into "company sales history". It would take a lot of work, but in the end, be well worth it and provide the best commission year of his career. I was excited for him but worried that he might be "seduced" by the big deal and lulled into complacency. I asked how the rest of his territory was looking and he suggested "with this one in the bag I don't need anything else!" I bit my tongue and rather than risk our friendship kept my mouth shut.
Unfortunately, I've heard this story too many times and it almost always results in disappointment. First, our ego gets in the way and we are "seduced" by the notoriety we will receive when we land "the big one". Not to mention the ego strokes we get at the water cooler while bragging about the "mother of all deals". Second, it is human nature to think, with this big one on the line, we really won't have to worry about the little ones and it lulls us into a false sense of security and complacency. "I'm a big hitter now, why would I want to worry about all that little stuff? Besides, it's just as easy to close a big one rather than 10 little ones and takes less time.
So, what happens is we focus all of our attention on getting the big one to the exclusion of the little ones. In the end, what ever results occur, we're disappointed. Think about it... what are the possible outcomes?
1. You get the deal, make your year and after the celebration realize that your pipeline for the
next year is empty!
2. You don't get the deal (ouch!), and not only are you in trouble for this year, but that pipeline
for next year is still empty. Even if the deal comes in Q-1, you're in trouble.
3. The deal gets delayed, you look bad for the year, your first quarter stinks, you get fired and
your replacement comes in and gets paid when the big deal closes (talk about adding insult to
injury)! But, they buy you dinner and say thanks!
So, what do we learn? Selling is a numbers game that demands consistency and discipline... you have to be active and make calls. As much as you might be "seduced" into thinking you have found an easy way... sorry, there is no easy way. As soon as you think "you've beaten the bank" or "fixed the game" think again, there are no short cuts or replacements for consistent activity. To be seduced by the big deal and thinking that you have found your way out of "the numbers game" is a mirage. Simply put, sales success is tied to activity and thinking otherwise is suicide!
I just spoke with my friend and asked how the "big deal" was going. All I needed to hear was "well it's kind of a long story..." and I already knew what he was about to tell me. Is the story about to be re-written by you?
Action Step: Create an activity plan for yourself with a daily call goal. Don't let a day go by that does not include activity designed to make sales. If you find yourself with to many opportunities, we can handle that! We'll teach you to close early and relish in abundance! But don't get behind the eight ball and think you can stop calling just because you've been "seduced by the big one!"
The most successful people in any profession are usually the ones who are the "most committed to success in their chosen profession". Without real "what ever it takes" commitment, you'll end up in the middle of the pack doomed to be part of the 80% of sales people that do 20% of the business. You'll be an "amateur" not a true "professional" and your paycheck will show it!
To understand what commitment is it helps to look outside of our profession at examples of people that are truly committed to success in their chosen field. Being a Chicagoan, I need look no further than Walter Payton as a great example of someone "totally committed" to success in their chosen field. Walter was one of the hardest workers during the off season and that work paid off with not only great performance but durability few players have ever been able to match. Commitment to success goes way beyond "game performance" and relies much more on preparation. For sales people, this translates into "preparing" for the call and not just "making it".
"What is real commitment to the sales profession and how do I know if I have it"? Candidly, if you have to ask what real commitment is in sales you probably don't have it. True commitment in sales is the drive that puts everything else in your day "on hold" if it in anyway impedes your daily sales goals. I'm not suggesting that you become a martyr and make your sales career the "only thing in your life". However, during the day when you can be engaged in selling activities they must take priority over everything else (barring life threatening emergencies!). You've got to make a decision that you're willing to do "whatever it takes" (within legal and moral grounds) to succeed in your profession.
We'll talk about more commitment in future posts but part of being committed is finding things to do that will impact your performance and drive more successful results in your day to day selling activities. So,why not start today and identify something that you can do that can improve your results. If you can't think of anything specific, why not go back through some of the blog posts that I've written and commit to an action step that you currently don't take. Make it realistic, measurable, specific and you'll find your success will foster more of the commitment you need to succeed!
Action Step: Review posts on sales strategies and make a commitment to adopt a new behavior to implement and master.