- June 23, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Brad Ferguson suggested that there might be a correlation between racquetball and sales improvement!
He reminded me that years ago, the racquetball court was simply a claustrophobic white-walled enclosure where the play could only be viewed from above. Then came Plexiglas walls so that more people could watch. Finally, the court and its players could be viewed by anyone and everyone.
Brad believes that this transition from closed in to opened up caused racquetball players to improve – not because they wanted to be better, but because spectators would see them. Their need for approval impacts the improvement process today while in the old days, improvement came only to those who were dedicated to improving their game. Shame for gain vs. desire to be the best.
The analogy to sales is that we don’t yet have the glass walls and that could explain why such a small percentage of salespeople are dedicated to improving their game. Perhaps, if others could see how poorly they perform on the phone and in face to face sales calls, they would be motivated to make improvements.
I have worked with enough companies to tell you that most of the fourteen million salespeople in the US are proficient at making presentations but not at selling. Unfortunately, they believe that presenting is selling.
