Go Play Cricket. Go Sell!!

Lets play gentlemen!

These are the words you hear from the umpire (no offence to women’s cricket!!!) just after the toss, pitch report and everything else.  It’s the cricket season!

Seems like Australia has been ousted and just back again as the number one team. Everyone enjoyed their bashing. The English are not enjoying the revival. Ashes up next. India nearing end of the season. A good one for us. Hopes are up. The dreams to be number one, right up, in sight and possible! Hell, we even talking about winning a World Cup which is to years away!!

Who is your favorite team? Quite a useless question that!! But ever wondered why you’re so loyal to your favorite team? Even more useless question that!! But think about it we rejoice with Indian cricket team, we curse them, we abuse them, we cherish them, we seat them on a pedestal. We are the greatest fans of the game here.. We collectively are so powerful that if we decide to not watch the game, world cricket might well enter a phase of extinction! That’s how powerful fans are, especially the fanatic one’s in here. I wonder though if your customers are your fans? Ya right!!

Fans cheer and sing for their favorite team. Known as a national obsession and even labeled as alternate religion (for lack of literary ability), cricket season starts with incredible hope for all teams equally and goes from spring to summer to winter, until the top team emerges. This always is Australia. Wonder why we even bother to go through the entire year of watching! – I guess in the mere hope that it will be our team too, one day.. Yes it will.. soon…

I am a loyal, diehard, devoted Indian cricket fan and have been since forever my father bought me my first cricket bat at three years of age..

What does all this have to do with your sales? At first even I didn’t know. Just saw Sachin Tendulkar batting today and started writing this…. But it has PLENTY to do with sales. Study the games, the teams, the players, the cricket and you will discover amazing similarities to your sales, your career and lack of it..

Here are the lessons in Cricket you can apply to your sales game and your business game once you understand the importance and impact:

-        Cricket teams are made of individual players who learn how to play together. The team on the top knows this the best. The individual skills contribute to the team’s success. They cannot win alone. The best team wins. See Australia, the best players go and have gone, the team wins.

-        Every great player was once a beginner. They started at a young age because they loved to play. Yes, they were encouraged by their parents!!

-        Every international cricketer started in some ‘unheard of’ club in your neighborhood. In cricket, like sales, there aren’t no shortcuts. One s-l-o-w step at a time. Before they even played a Ranji match, it’s quite possible they had been playing for some 5-8 years, risking everything else on Earth.

-        Cricketers are coachable: Being coached, listening and learning from coaches, seniors and other players n other teams are keys to a new players success.

-        Players warm up and practice before EVERY game: Even if they have been playing for years, they practice before EVERY game. I wonder if you practice your sales visits. I wonder if you wonder why you don’t get sales on every visit.

-        Cricketers learn the fundamentals, the basics of the game until they are automatic. Then they practice them every day. Fundamentals like: keep your eye on the ball. Catching practice. Net practice. Foot forward.. Know the rules. Know the plan. Implement the plan. How many times in a post match interview have you heard the winning captain say – “We did the basics right.”.. what are your basics for sales? Are you even aware of them, leave alone automation?

-        All cricketers, even the greatest of them, get into a slump: Coaching, watching films, practice, determination and attitude gets them out of it. They don’t run around cribbing about conditions and pains and aches.

-        All cricketers make errors: Sometimes an error can cost you the game. Take errors seriously, NOT personally. Learn from them and don’t repeat them. The secret to error free: More practice.

-        They love the game: They love what they do and play to win.

HARSH REALITIES OF SALES AND CRICKET:

• Very few players make it to the international circuit.

• Very few players who do make it to the international level, become leaders even then.

• Very few players get to be match winners.

• Small errors in judgment, three bad matches can cost you your career. In India even one’s enough if you aren’t Sachin Tendulkar.

• All cheaters eventually get caught.

• There is no champagne for second place.

• Fans become disenchanted when teams lose. Sad. But there’s still a lesson: To keep them excited, you must keep yourself excited.

There are the unspoken rules of the game – both in cricket and sales. You gotta believe in your team and teammates. You gotta believe your team will win. You gotta believe in your coach, your leader.

NOTE WELL: Millions have played the game. Maybe even you. Thousands have played in the some school, college cricket. But there are only 55 players in the Hall of Fame. It’s all about their ability, their devotion, their dedication, and their practice.

How’s yours?

Who are you playing for?

Are you a winning player?

How much do you practice every day?

How much of your heart is in the game?

Who are you giving your loyalty to?

Yours,

Chetan Walia

P.S. There are 6 important sales skills you have to PRACTICE every day to become a big-league player.

1. Study attitude every morning.

2. Study your prospective customer’s needs the night before any sales meeting.

3. Develop questions for every appointment that you’re certain set you apart from your competition and engage the customer in a value-oriented way.

4. Bring ideas into the sales presentation that your prospective customer perceives as valuable.

5. Build relationships by being a value-driven person, not a sales-driven person.

6. Ask for the sale every time.