Three Sales Tips from Bull Durham

There is nothing more stressful in sales than not being at your goal (personal or company) ahead of that VERY last moment.
* Making your month on the last day
* Making your quarter in the last week of the 3rd month
* Making your year on December 31st (so late that you don’t know if it’s real until you come in on January 2nd)

Many of you realize I don’t use many sports analogies (mostly because the sports I know and love aren’t popular enough for everyone to “get” the analogies). So instead; here are three tips from Bull Durham, to lower your stress levels and keep your sales pipeline full:

#1 – fake yourself out!
Skip: You guys. You lollygag the ball around the infield. You lollygag your way down to first. You lollygag in and out of the dugout. You know what that makes you? Larry!
Larry: Lollygaggers!
Skip: Lollygaggers.

Instead of waiting until the end to push, make sure you’re not lollygagging at the beginning. Play your sales game hard and fast at the beginning – of the year, of the quarter, of the month. That will give you a better chance to be ahead when it comes to the last inning.

#2 – take advantage of your emotions when you win.
“a player on a streak has to respect the streak” ~ Crash Davis

When you’ve won a deal that was tough OR successfully gotten through a difficult conversation OR… you get the idea. Take 2 minutes and figure out all the things you did right, and immediately put yourself in a position to do those things again… yes I said immediately and repeatedly!

#3 – if you aren’t enjoying the job… your prospects and customers aren’t enjoying working with you either.
“So relax! Let’s have some fun out here! This game’s fun, OK? Fun goddamnit.” ~ Crash Davis

If you don’t have fun at work WITH your prospects and customers, when are you going to have fun? Probably never, as adults we are at work more than anywhere else – smile while you dial, in sales (and perhaps in life) the only two things we get to choose is: our attitude & how we spend our time. Choose both wisely.

Bonus Tip: all prospects & customers are NOT created equal. Just like in baseball there are some players who together make a great team. Ensure that your account base is full of people you want on your team – they are going to be the people and companies to determine if you get to “go to the show.”