Hope + Sales

I used to work at a job board company and every week in our sales meeting the sales manager would ask each of us what clients and job positing packages we thought would close that week.

One by one we reps would list what companies we thought we would close that week.

I always undersold what I thought would close that week because I understood that I'm always dealing with people and corporations that are out of my control and deals might not close as fast as I want them.

Under promise and over deliver is the way I looked at it.

Other salespeople would list off many deals they were going to close that week, while I only talked about one or two deals. Almost always they never did close the amount they thought. Often times they closed no deals. Over time I noticed the body language of these reps when they gave their predictions on what was going to close. They weren't sure what would close. Just like Cookie Monster hoping there was a cookie in the bag, they were only HOPING the deals would close. They were only saying all these deals so they looked good in front of the sales manager. In that moment they may have thought they looked better than I did in the salesmanger's mind, however who looked better when the deals closed at the end of the week and I either met or exceeded my projections and they didn't.

Which group would you rather be in?

I'll see you in "Camp Realistic."

Thanks!

Ev

"A Heck of A Nice Guy"