“To Play or Not To Play”

…that truly is the question. In the workshops that I facilitate, I often ask the group, “who finishes first in a hand of stud poker”…rarely do they get the answer correct. I hear things like the person with the best hand or the person who bluffs the best, of course the answer is…the person who rakes in the money from the center of the table, duh! Then I ask…who finishes in second place…ever more rarely does this get answered correctly. I hear things like everyone else or the person who was in it until the final bet, of course the answer is…the person who folded first, as they are the one who lost the least.

Folks if you can’t win DO NOT play. It is as simple as that. Now I was not a great salesman, OK maybe I was. But one of the things I learned very early was to not waste time on opportunities that I could not win. I remember sayings such as “It’s not whether you win or lose, its how you play the game”… in the sales world that’s a bunch of crap. I will tell you winning is the only thing, for me. As soon as I decide I can’t win, I am gone faster than a soccer mom driving to Starbuck’s. If you can’t win, don’t play…have I already said that? I know you are afraid to disengage because some chance of winning is better than no chance. Here’s what I would tell you, if you spend time on opportunities that you can not win, you are stealing from yourself. That wasted time will never be regained, it is lost FOREVER!

What? You say your pipeline is not full and if you disengage, your manager will make you pppppprrrrooossspppeeecccttt? I know that is hard for me to say too. So, when is it easiest to walk away from a bad deal? - when your pipeline is full. So get off your duff and fill your pipeline with “latent” opportunities. Don’t know what latent means, look it up in your Solution Selling® dictionary. Oh, you say your prospecting consists of aggressively waiting by the phone for someone to call you to buy something…great! Thank goodness you don’t work for me.

Happy Selling!