During one of the discussions at Jacobsen University, from the back of the room, I heard a line that I thought was a great one. I believe it was a sales manager who made the comment," You guys are elephant hunters. You are looking to sell $60,000 mowers." I really thought it was a great analogy. I know for me, over the past few years, the focus on large deals, and the time they took, absolutely put me in that category; which was not what I had based my early career territory management on. The consistent sales of one and two pieces to many of your customers was how to be successful. One of things I used to kid with my sales manager back then was, "Rod Carew was able to make it to the Baseball Hall of Fame by hitting singles!".
The equipment purchasing world has changed with more and more clubs leasing, so there are more "elephants" to hunt, but the reality is the success rate has to be high or you will be struggling to succeed. On the other hand, if you are able to continually sell (hit singles and doubles), you have a much better chance of being a solid performer and helping your company grow.
Don't get me wrong, winning a large sale is a great feeling. The hard part is they are time consuming and if you aren't lucky enough to earn the business, you probably missed out on some other opportunities that aren't coming back.
I guess in a perfect world I would be Rod Carew the elephant hunter.....
WJC
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