Do Eagles just "wing it" when selling?
You know what I mean.
Do the top sales pros – the rock stars – just go out to on their next new prospect sales call and say whatever pops into their mind while in front of the prospect?
To answer the question, let’s talk about some real rock stars for a moment, The Rolling Stones.
Do you think that The Rolling Stones just wing it when they play a concert?
Well the answer is no they don’t.
The Stones have been playing for decades now. They still play songs they wrote 40 years ago to admiring crowds.
You would think that they could play these songs in their sleep.
Yet with every concert, they have a set list – a planned play list of the songs they are going to perform and the order they plan to perform them in for the evening.
And they rehearse before going out on the road.
Because when they don’t rehearse, it can cause problems for them.
Like I said, you’d think they could sing some of these songs in their sleep, effortless, without problems.
But at a concert date on their most recent tour, Mick Jagger forgot some of the words to a Stones’ song that he has performed many, many times.
Yeah, Rock Stars need to prepare too, lest they embarrass themselves and their band.
So No, the Stones plan and prepare, they don’t just wing it.
Which is why The Rolling Stones are more than just a rock band after 40+ years.
They are a major entertainment business.
What About Sales Rock Stars?
What about the sales rocks stars?
If you’ve ever been around one in action on a sales call, you might get the impression that selling is effortless, natural, and spontaneous for them.
But they go into every sales call with lots of planning, preparation, research, and years of practice.
To those on the ground, it may look like they are winging it, but they aren’t.
They’ve got specific questions they ask. They’ve got commitments they negotiate for. They’ve got customer case studies memorized and ready to tell. They’ve got rules for what they need to do and what their prospect needs to do in order to move the sale forward.
Just like a football quarterback who can run any of a number of plays once on the field, the sales eagle will use a somewhat a different mix of tactics with each prospect.
And like the Rolling Stones before each concert, and the quarterback before each game, the sales eagle must plan which specific tactics to use and make sure he is prepared to execute each one well.
So don’t fall into the temptation to just wing it on your sales calls.
Rock stars don’t wing it.
Professional quarterbacks don’t wing it.
Sales eagles don’t wing it.
Don’t wing it.
Plan, prepare, and then execute.
You’ll soar much farther when you do.
