Any Given Sunday!
That’s Why They Play The Game!
Watching this weekend’s NFL Playoffs really highlighted this point so well. Prior to this year’s playoff’s beginning, had anyone asked who the NFC team would be in the Super Bowl, 95% of the people would have said New Orleans or Green Bay. Now, after only the 2nd week of playoffs, both have been dismissed by teams they were supposed to beat. Why do things happen like this? I’m sure the Packers and Saints both prepared well. I doubt that either of them was arrogant enough to look beyond this game to next week’s match-up. Both of these coaches have won Super Bowls, and they both won as underdogs, so they were taking their opponent seriously. So, why am I talking about this? Because there are a lot of sales people, marketing personnel, engineering staff, and countless others that always tell us why something won’t work. We hear from so many people why it won’t work, that some of us believe it and don’t try From the finance guys; “don’t call on that type of account; they are a pain when it comes to payments”. From the logistics personnel; “that account always moves their shipments around at the last minute” From the other sales people; “good luck with them, we have never had a chance with that type of business, or prices are too high, and their current source is really good at what they do”
Frankly speaking, I’m tired of people telling us why something won’t work, instead of helping us figure out how to win the business. Regardless of the excuses that we hear, things change at those accounts that make it a possibility. How do we know that the other source isn’t having difficulties? Or, that the personnel have changed in their logistics department that now understands how to schedule better. It’s why “we” play the game. It’s why we pick up the phone, and ask those questions over and over again. If this type of account has the right profile, and you know they can use your services or products, then don’t let anyone tell you why you can’t “win”. If this were the case, the Giants and 49’ers would have never even put the pads on this weekend. They believed they had the right plan to win, and they executed it. It’s your job to understand what the objections are (both internal & external), and come up with the proper plan to meet and exceed those objections. As I’ve written in prior articles, proper planning prevents poor performance. This is why we plan, so we can overcome objections regardless of where they come from. The old saying; “any given Sunday” needs to be “any given day” for us sales professionals. If you are better prepared than they are, you will WIN! If you don’t believe your own press clippings, and constantly work on improving, then you will WIN! If you prepare properly, you will WIN!
Is it your day? Or theirs?
Pinnacle Sales can help you prepare, and give you the tools to win your share of games. Give us a call and let’s start our training camp today!