Years ago, there
was an interview with a NASA astronaut in which he was asked, “What would you
do if you were in danger of destruction and had only one minute to save you and
your crew?”
He
responded, “I’d spend 50 seconds figuring out a solution, and 10 seconds
executing it.”
A couple of
elements of that exchange delight me. First, it highlights how cool astronauts
are. These men and women are engineers, pilots and scientists, and they are not
afraid to get launched into space on a giant rocket. That combination of
intellectual capacity, discipline and courage makes them seem like the closest
thing we have to real super heroes.
Second, it
validates the old principle which I use in selling: plan the work and work the
plan.
Note that
the astronaut, who is trained to deal with crises, allocated over 83% of what
could be his last minute on earth to planning his next steps, and the remainder
to action. How often do you, when given a great sales opportunity, jump into
action (“Let’s show them the solution!” “Let’s give them a price!” “Let’s sign
an LOI!”) before you do any substantive planning?
Selling,
like space travel, can be unpredictable. (That may be the only comparison I can
make between the two!) And when something is unpredictable, it is because it
has variables. (Constants are not unpredictable because they are, well,
constant!) If we have to deal with variables, particularly ones with broad and
material implications, we can’t develop a consistent plan that will address all
cases. But we can develop a consistent process that produces a plan, taking
into consideration the unique engagement we are going to undertake. For
example:
- · Qualify the deal
o
How
do they buy?
o
How
do they decide?
o
How
else can the client achieve its goals?
o
How
can we compete?
o
How
can we win?
(See “The
‘Five Hows’ of Sales” https://dealwhisperers.blogspot.com/2012/02/five-hows-of-sales.html.)
- Build your pursuit team
- Develop a power map
- Etc.
The need to
take fundamental planning steps does not change from deal to deal. And if you establish
a process for how to analyze and strategize to customize a plan to deal with
the variables, you will give yourself the best chance for success (and that
trip to Mars you’re dreaming of).
