How to Succeed in Sales (and Space Travel)

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).