Selling Processes and Golf Have a Lot in Common

There is a sense that selling, and sales management are more of an art than a science. This is the probable reason that most universities don't have thorough programs intended to train graduate students (or undergraduate for that matter) on the sales management process. It is also the likely reason that sales people who are promoted to sales management have not had any significant training. It is also a suspected reason that there are few if any text books on sales management... and those that exist on selling skills have little if any factual data backing them up.

But in fact there is a science to selling and sales management and when done properly, a selling team can launch and sustain products and services to the extent that they are maximized relative to their market potential. How often are market potentials achieved? When everything does come together and a great launch is achieved, how many companies know what they did right, who did it, and how do they repeat it?

Marketing and Sales can be a productive team when there is a thorough plan communicated to the sales management team. When the sales management team puts together an implementation plan for the sales team members, with a clear selling process; with appropriate monitoring tools; with continuous evaluation of performance; with process adjustments when necessary; and when there is a feed-back loop to marketing... and so on; things become a science.

I like to use sports analogies to explain some of the dynamics of selling. When done correctly by marketing and sales management, a plan can be beautifully put into place. It is a little like a golf swing... in part like this:

1st you have the set-up of the golfer ... the 60 degree angle of the back, the windowpane position of the head, the proper bend of the knees, the drop of the hands to the comfortable holding of the club and

2nd then you have the take back of the club, inside the 30 degree triangle from the ball, to the right shoulder, and to the left shoulder

3rd at the mid-point of the back-swing the club should still be inside the triangle

Well, it goes on and on... and we think of golf as a sport. But if you want to win in golf, it is probably more likely that you should look at it as a science. In the end, when all the individual swing parts are working properly and they are put together in series... you will get a 300 yard drive. Like when Tiger Woods does it right... the knees moving forward, allowing the hips to clear, allowing the thorax to unwind, adding velocity and power to the shoulders which move forward adding torque to the arms, wrists, hands, club...

This is what selling is about... when marketing sets things up right, when the managers ensure the process is well practiced, repeated routinely by the sales professionals... the torque build up is the same... and the WHACK is audible... how many sales teams can say that they put it together like Tiger Woods who hits over a million balls a season to perfect this swing... do any of us work that hard at the 'PROCESS of SELLING'?

Check and compare your selling to Tiger's swing at http://www.metacafe.com/watch/361150/the_perfect_golf_swing/ Just click on this address into your browser and comment back here when you compare...