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Jon Lester No-Hitter Like Sale of a Lifetime?

  
  
  

Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.

Tonight, Jon Lester, of the Boston Red Sox, pitched a no-hitter. It was the first no-hitter by a Red Sox left-handed pitcher in more than 30 years. It was the second no-hitter by a young, promising Red Sox pitcher in eight months. I attempted to find the probability of pitching a no-hitter but all I could find was a scientifc formula that one would have to understand in order to get the answer. So I took another route, estimating that there are approximately 3820 games played per season and, maybe 1 or 2 no-hitters per year. So that would make the odds of hurling one about 1 in 1900 or a mere .05% chance.

So, I wondered, what would the sales equivalent of a no-hitter be?

a. Landing the Biggest Account of Your Life?
b. Closing the Biggest Sale of Your Life?
c. Beating out the Biggest Competition?
d. Getting the Business Everyone Said You Couldn't Get?
e. Having your first million dollar income year?
f. Winning the sales contest?
g. Being named top salesperson out of hundreds or thousands?
h. Closing 43 in a row?
i. Bringing in your first sale?
j. Landing the $50 million contract after a 2 year sale cycle?
k. other

Leave your comment below and let us know whether it's one of the examples above or you had another experience that was the thrill of a lifeteime.

(c) Copyright 2008 Dave Kurlan



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Posted by Dave Kurlan on Mon, May 19, 2008 @ 10:18 PM

COMMENTS

The rush of having pithched a no hitter can only be imagined by us who have never achieved such a rare occasion.
Having said that, what in sales can equal that rush seems to be very individualized. I'm sure to many it could be any of the ones you listed.
The more I thought about it the more I kept coming back to the same thing. For me, in what I do, a no hitter is when I have helped someone achieve what they set out to do. Whether it was closing their first deal using our products, or scoring a huge deal after a long cycle.
It's not about me and my win. It's their win and feeling and hearing their excitment that makes me feel a rush of a "job welll done". A "no hitter" so to speak. Yes, I don't get the roar of the crowd, but the thanks from the client is more than enough for me, to feel their satisfaction of a perfectly played game, they won, we won!

posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 2:10 PM by Ed Kleinman


Huh. A no-hitter. Congratulations to that Pacific Northwest kid. Whips cancer's ass, pitches in the World Series, and throws a no-no. I understand he turns 25 soon. It's amazing the no-hitter probably ranks third amongst these three feats for this guy. I'm not sure there is a sales equivelant.
I know what comes really close: A referral. A real one. The kind where the referring client attaches their reputation and good name to their confidence in working with my company. They don't just give us a name to call... the source calls their contact, tells them what great work we've done and intructs them not to ask the kinds of questions that will stand in the way of getting help from us immediately.
It may not be exactly like a no-hitter. It may be more exactly like this: Catching a fly ball to left-center on a dead run, hitting the wall full speed with your front foot, clearing the wall, high-fiving a fan in the outfield seats, landing on your feet, spinning, throwing to the cut-off man who in turn fires to first and doubles up the runner. All on live, prime-time television.
Let's calculate how often THAT happens!

posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 3:52 PM by Dave Mantel


A no-hitter requires luck and skill. Our equivalent of a no-hitter is when one of our loyal customers gets a new position in a much larger property.
We've had Chef's that have been so happy with our quality and service, that when they land their "dream job" they take us with them as part of their new staff. This has been the equivalent of a "no hitter" in the past as it has tripled business in the new account, it kicks out the competition, and we always keep the old account also!

posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at 7:51 AM by chris collias


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