Improving Your Sales Batting Average: Lessons from Yogi Berra

For baseball players, the easiest way to improve your batting average is to pick better pitches to swing at.  For salespeople, the easiest way to increase your close rate is to find better leads. . . potential buyers that provide a much higher probability to buy from you.

 

Yogi Berra once said that "90% of hitting is from the neck up" (meaning - the strategic approach you take to the plate - chosing to swing at hittable pitches), "the other half is physical"  (meaning - Yogi was a baseball coach not a mathmatician). 

I played a lot of baseball growing up, put myself through college on a baseball scholoraship.  The best firstbase coach I had in college was Len Ayers.  You may be asking yourself - what does a firstbase coach really do?  Well, Len would stand so close to the firstbase foul line that he could pick up the catcher's signals. He would then relay those signals to the hitter - calling you by your name signaled "fast ball"; calling you by your number signaled "something off-speed".  If you heard neither it simply meant he could not see the signs.  If a hitter knows what's coming it increases his batting average an easy 200 points . . . that translates to aproximately doubling the close rate  for a salesperson.

 

A salesperson's firstbase coach(s) is/are your best customers.  You have a network of relationships that also have their own network of people that trust them.  When you have your customers singing your praises to your prospects that is 3rd Party Validation.  Any of these prospects that show interest are "belt-high fastballs" . . . meaning - high probability of buying from you.

 

The key for you is to let your firstbase coaches know that you would like for them to signal for you.  If you have taken care of them and they believe in you, they would love to reciprocate  and help both you and the potential benefactor. 

 

Just because it's easy does not mean it's cheating.  Picking up signals is part of the game . . . and just think - if you spend 90% of your time with the best prospects & the other half of your time building existing relationships . . . you should increase sales 140%!!!