Preparation: the lesson of Rick Porcello

Rick Porcello: Pitcher

We have talked a lot about the Mission and how important it is to have a clearly defined mission when you start your week, or when you go into your sales call.  It would seem that the job of the baseball pitcher would be simple and easy: the catcher tells you what pitch to execute and then you execute it the best that you can.

Although that may be the norm, that is not the way that Porcello has achieved his success.  As of September 10, 2016, Porcello is the first major league pitcher to reach 20 wins (with only 3 losses).  That kind of achievement is not accomplished by either luck or doing what the catcher signals.  Porcello spends hours before a game watching videos of the opposition hitters.  Every hitter has weaknesses--they swing at splitters into the dirt; they are suckers for the changeup; they can't handle a curveball.  Porcello studies this and then executes.  He doesn't walk hitters because he knows what their weaknesses are.  Study and preparation are the hallmarks of this 20+ game winner.

As salespeople, we become sloppy in our preparation.  We think, because we know our product, that that will carry us through the sales call.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In today's world, the dynamics of the sales call changes every day--for example, your customer may have bought a new company or have been bought by another company.  So much changes in this dynamic world we live in.  And, walking into a customer unaware of the current dynamics is a recipe for failure.

Google has made our jobs easier.  Prepare for each sales call by checking all the current dynamics out: the company's website; their Facebook account; your contact's LinkedIn profile; the company's Manta profile--all this information is available and will make your call productive.

Preparation is the key to being a 20 game winner in sales.