Sales Success – Is it LUCK or SKILL?

I got a phone call recently from an ex-customer of mine. I call him an ex-customer because he changed jobs a few years ago and no longer was in a position to buy what I sell. I still do business with the company… just with different people.

Crazy as it might seem I still kept in touch with him – partially because I like him and he likes me, partially because he was willing to share information about what was going on, partially because I could ask him straight up and get a straight answer… because the decisions weren’t his to be responsible for.

The voicemail said “hey call me, I have ACTUAL business to discuss with you”

Intrigued I called him back… to find that he was – for one time only – responsible for a HUGE proposal that was going to be sent out in the next week with a purchasing decision made before the end of the month.

Here is the question; was getting that phone call luck OR skill?

Although I have no idea who the 1st person to say it was, I heard it the Formula One driver – Stirling Moss say it first “the harder I work, the luckier I get.”

Skill put me in a position, to be lucky enough for my name to pop into his head when an opportunity came along. Skill will be what it takes to weave through the RFP process… quickly and put me in a position to be lucky enough to win the deal. If I lose the deal – it doesn’t mean that I lost both my luck and skill, it might just mean someone else was a better fit.

No matter what I have to keep doing all the right things, to be lucky enough to be around for the next opportunity to pop up.

Make sure you are working hard enough to be lucky!

image © Rocky Reston | Dreamstime Stock Photos