I have a friend named Matt who I have coached on and off for the last decade. He is an extremely intense and ambitious person who met his match about 8 years ago when he took on a new role in sales with a new company.
Matt had always been in an administrative type of role, so taking on the new challenge proved difficult at first as it thrust him into a sales position - a position that was new and foreign to him. As we discussed the initial job offer he had received, I encouraged him to accept the job because I knew he would be great as a sales person, and even though the initial base salary was very low compared to what he wanted to make, the upside potential was limitless.
Our coaching took on a unique role during his early days at the company, calling me very early each day while he was on his drive in to work. He struggled at first to gain any meaningful traction noting that the other sales people at the company all had huge customers which would generate massive sales, while he struggled to find customers of his own that would help him achieve his quota.
I asked him if anyone was pursuing some of the many small customers I knew had to exist and he stated that no one there was working that angle having the majority of their time consumed by the big customers they all had.
Professional Poker Player Daniel Negreanu popularized a style of play called “Small Ball” - a system that involved being involved in a lot of hands - an approach that that set oneself up for being in the right place at the right time when a big hand developed during the game. Knowing that Matt was an avid poker player himself, I suggested he adapt the small ball approach to his sales - being involved with a lot of customers at any given time affording him the opportunity to in effect be in the right place at the right time when a big sale would come.
I suggested to him that if his monthly sales quota was $100k, find 20 customers each capable of consistently producing $5000 a month in sales. This approach quickly took root with Matt and soon he had built a solid book of reliable business consisting of small accounts each generating sales that added up to the numbers he needed to meet and exceed his quota.
So what is the application for your life this week?
The takeaway is this, being involved in a lot of different deals can quickly add up to big numbers. Treating sales quotas, projects or other obstacles in the Small Ball approach can help mitigate the initial feeling of being overwhelmed by the enormity of a project, and help in breaking it down into more manageable pieces that again when reassembled equate to a finished product, or sales goal.
To put it into different terms, I remember talking to a friend who was facing an enormous challenge in their life. They really didn’t know how to approach the challenge. I asked if they had ever heard the expression of how to eat an elephant. They hadn’t, so I told them that the best to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
Whether you call the concept small ball or something different, the approach is solid and can lead to great success.
Matt went all in on his small ball approach to building his book of business. Along the way, a few of those smaller customers turned into much larger clients, and now Matt has several people who work with him in a support role to assist in making sure each and every customer is taken care of. Now almost 9 years into this role Matt has been the top salesman at the company almost every month, still relying on the small ball approach to his customer base.
This week as you start out look for areas in your life, be it personal or professional, that stepping back and using the small ball approach might prove more effective. I use small ball in many areas of my life - it is effective and works.
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