Have you got your ticket? The Mega Millions jackpot is
around $640 Million Dollars for tonight’s drawing. What causes all of the excitement?
The chance of a huge payday. What does a huge payday create? A lot of people
who take a gamble figuring what the heck, the odds are the same as a million
dollar drawing. Does the same thing happen in sales? Absolutely, except…
At the end of the day, sales is about effort times deal size
divided by odds equals payout. I have worked with a lot of elephant hunters.
Salespeople with their eyes always looking for a huge score. They put in lots
and lots of effort for a smaller percentage opportunity, rolling the dice for
the big score. What is the one thing we only have a fixed amount of? Right,
time.
If a salesperson is spending all their time hunting
elephants, what aren’t they doing? Winning the smaller deals with a higher percentage
of closing. Sales is not like the lotto. Lotto odds are the same regardless the
size of the deal, Sales isn’t. Every deal is different. The odds of every deal
are different. A smart salesperson has got to be able to do the math. Are you a
smart salesperson?
Whether you are or you aren’t, at this point, you can get
smarter. How? First, track your time on every deal, know how long it takes to
close a deal. You need to have an idea
about the amount of time it takes for an average deal, and not just the time to
close, but hours of effort. Next, have a really good needs analysis checklist. Knowing
what they need verses what you can do is one part of generating the odds. The
better the match, the better the odds. The other half of the odds are
relationships, money, and magic… What is the deal size? Is it worth your
effort? Any effort? A lot of effort? More effort than the other deals in your
pipeline?
Now you can “play” your deals based on the best odds, not
your lucky numbers.
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