Image by Jam Adams via Flickr
Last week I attended Inc’s Newpreneuer event and was blessed to hear Tom Searcy speak. The theme of the presentation was to hunt for big sales. He talked about his own techniques and how any entrepreneuer can apply it to their own sales strategy. The part I remember most is when he alluded to poker and how one of the best poker techniques also transcends into the best sales techniques.
In poker, it takes 90% skill, and 10% luck.
The same thing holds true in Sales. A lot of the time you will hear complaints about how someone else got the sale because they’re prettier, in the right place the right time, or they knew the right people. Sometimes this is true but usually the 90% skill is what brought them to that point or helped them close the deal. They may have used a connection to get in contact with the decision maker, but it took effort and time to make the meetings and convince them to say yes in the end.
The 90% skill comes from numerous factors, but one important one is knowing when to fold.
Most poker players fold anywhere from 80% to 90% of their hands. Tom mentioned that knowing when to call it quits on sales (toxic prospects – those who say keep saying later, next week, etc, black-hole potentials – “can you change the colors?” “what if we wanted less? would that change the price?”.) will save you time to spend on the good leads. When you fold bad hands, it will let you have the chips to play the better hands. In poker you want to play your pocket pairs and your Ace Kings. When you fold the bad hands, it ensures that you will have more than enough chips to play with when you finally get dealt the good cards. You have to figure out what type of potentials equal to the big pots so that you make sure you spend more time with them.
My Pocket Sevens and playing them right.
In Poker, starting with a pocket pair is a wonderful way to start. When you have middle pair though it takes a little more work to win the pot. You want to play against as few players as possible going into the pot, so you usually raise the stakes a little to scare away some people. With my prospect client, I laid out the best deal I could up front when pitching them. I told them everything they wanted to know, educated them on the product, and helped them develop a package that fit their needs and budget. The prospect was looking at my company and one other. Now I just had to hope that their hole cards aren’t that good, or he only has two high cards, maybe King-Queen off suit. The next step in poker, is to watch the flop. All of a sudden there’s all high cards and my pocket sevens don’t seem that hot anymore. The prospect came back saying this other company offered similar services but for a much cheaper price. The other player raised on the flop seeing he had the better hand. This is where I have to decide to fold, or call hoping that he is either bluffing or I can catch another seven on the turn. I ultimately chose to fold.
In Sales, the price card is one of the biggest cards prospects like to play. You have to decide if you want to play along or cut your losses. Sometimes it makes sense to play along and others, even when you play you might not win in the end. The best skill to learn is knowing when to fold. Once you’ve mastered this, you’ll pick your battles better, and land the better deals.
