It Is Time To Fight For The Inches

Mike Jacoutot, Managing Partner
Nov 6, 2020
3 min read

It has been a challenging eight months for all of us in business. What doesn't break us makes us stronger, right?

In Al Pacino’s great halftime speech featured in the movie "Any Given Sunday," he talks about “life is a game of inches. And so is football.” Fighting, clawing, and scrapping for each inch on each play makes the difference in winning or losing. It was the same for me in wrestling.

But this is not about football or wrestling. It is about understanding the concept that sales is also a game of inches. The great salespeople are willing to scrap and scrape for each inch with every opportunity.

The world of sales has changed more in the last eight months than it has in the past 20 years.

Have you kept up with the pace of change? As a leader? As a salesperson?

Can you identify where those inches are, and are you willing to fight for those inches? It might just be easier to hide behind Covid-19.

Here is a partial list of “inches” you need to be willing to fight for in sales once you have that precious client meeting:

✔ Your LinkedIn profile is up to date with a professional picture, company background, descriptors, etc.

✔ You have looked up your client/prospects on LinkedIn and other social media and understand their background, where they went to school, what groups they’ve joined, family, etc.

✔ You have researched common connections and reached out to your connection to help "grease the skids" for you.

✔ Send the client/prospect a confirming email the day before (in the morning) which includes:

A proposed agenda for the meeting
Any virtual meeting links to download prior to the meeting (Zoom, WebEx, etc.)
A quick statement “You look forward to connecting on video tomorrow”

✔ You have developed your Client Meeting Plan which includes:

Background information on your prospect and their company
Primary and secondary objective
Agenda
Opening statement
A pre-planned list of effective questions (SIGN)
Ensure you operate in the client’s Operating Reality
An anticipated list of customer questions/objections and how you will handle
Clearly defined roles for each of your associates involved in the meeting

✔ Assuming your meeting is virtual, you will need to reference your Virtual Checklist*:

Download presentation deck to your computer desktop if on a shared drive
Make sure deck elements are working (i.e., video links, animations)
Review deck and complete the following:

Determine timing to ensure you do not go over the allotted time
Determine your game plan for discussion and questions
Make sure audio, video, lighting, and power sources are ready
Test Internet Speed
Close all other applications on your desktop, including email and notifications
Choose Virtual Background or non-distracting actual background

✔ If you are using the client's platform, join the meeting at least 15 minutes before to download anything that may be required and to check audio and video

First, plan with family members/roommates to ensure you have Internet capacity
Notify others in the household/office to not disturb
Dress for Success
Have a Plan B in case your Internet connection fails
Send out a meeting email recapping what was discussed and next steps

Winning breeds winning. The top-performing salespeople, plan better, invest in their personal development more, and hold themselves accountable for top-notch results via checklists. We summarize this phenomenon in our training this way:

“The difference between the successful person and the unsuccessful person is this: The successful person is in the habit of doing things the unsuccessful person doesn’t do.”

At Butler Street, we understand “good” is not a permanent place. It is all about getting better at a faster rate than your principal competitors. Change has occurred exponentially in sales over the past eight months. The ability to change, requires an ability to learn. We must create continuous learning organizations. We can help. Our Virtual Sales Training and Virtual Leadership Training is top-notch. Just watch what our customers are saying.