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The Perspective of Sales and Squirrels

The Perspective of Sales and Squirrels

Bentley will see a squirrel, drop whatever he’s doing, and tear after it, irrespective of the distance, number of fences, and amount of trees intervening. When he has to pull up at the first fence, he looks up at the squirrel safely on the branch of a distant tree, and he barks in frustration.

 

Stop barking at business.

 

We have a tendency to smell money, see money, hear money, and pursue it relentlessly, despite the intervening obstacles and the overall distance. Not all business is good business, not all buyers are relevant buyers, not all people with money are buyers. We leave “money on the table” when we don’t use appropriate fees with our proposals, but we leave “time on the table” when we don’t use appropriate judgment with our prospects.

 

Some potential business is too small, too remote, too laborious, too demanding, too ridiculous. Some of it is unethical or repulsive. Eschew it.

 

Pursue that business which you are great at and love doing, provided by your ideal buyers. It’s as simple as that.

 

The Great Dog Koufax, knew his ideal squirrels. They were in his yard, within the fence, and he could reach the nearest tree before they could. He caught squirrels.

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© Alan Weiss 2014

Written by

Alan Weiss is a consultant, speaker, and author of over 60 books. His consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc., has attracted clients from over 500 leading organizations around the world.

Comments: 3

  • Tim Wilson

    June 10, 2014

    Interesting insight. You start out with Bentley chasing after squirrels that (right now) he can’t catch because he hasn’t figured out his yard. You then provide thoughtful ideas on how and what we should do to make sure we can get the right kind of business (catching our squirrels). Finish with how Koufax caught squirrels because he figured out his yard, which came with practice, observation, and knowing what he was good at. Have to wonder how many will get the connection or just be looking for typos.

  • Craig Martin

    June 10, 2014

    Typo hunters tend to look for the mistakes in the message or its author, searching for any reason as to why something won’t work, rather than absorb a whole message so they can adopt and adapt to evolve as people.

    If Darwin was here to study these typo hunters I’m sure he’d just get Bentley to chew them up regardless. It’s better for all life that way.

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