Eleven years ago, Neil Rackham spoke at my university on how the very best companies approached sales.
Rackham, in case you don’t know, authored “Spin Selling” and is a leading researcher in sales science and consultative selling.
He argued that it’s not the number of opportunities that matter. It’s having a very narrow sales funnel.
Here’s why.
- The more opportunities a salesperson has, the safer they feel.
- Salespeople look for easy wins, not strategic wins.
- The cost of sales is rising in consultative sales.
This means you can spend a lot of money on salespeople that look like they’re being active, without getting a return.
Picture a golf course. This way of approaching sales is like loading a cannon with golf balls and firing at the green.
Hopefully some will go in.
But a better approach is to swing at one ball, and over a few shots, guide it to the hole.
Maybe that’s why cannon golf never took off.
Sales is no longer a numbers game.
It’s a value game, fewer shots but higher returns.
Handcrafted insight 