Blog

  • #HEYKEENAN
  • Account Management
  • Asset of The Future
  • Book Reviews/Quotes
  • Business Performance
  • Career Development
  • Cold Calling
  • CRM
  • Customer Service
  • Ebooks
  • Economy
  • Enterprise 2.0
  • Entrepreneur
  • Events
  • Executive Series
  • Funny
  • Gap Selling Sales Book
  • Guest Posts
  • Hiring/Firing
  • How To Sell Better
  • Interviews/Podcasts
  • Job Seekers
  • KEENAN LIVE
  • Leadership
  • LinkedIn Videos
  • Lists
  • Marketing
  • Not Taught
  • Personal Brand
  • Personal Development
  • Pipeline
  • Politics
  • Products
  • Prospecting
  • Quota
  • Quotes
  • Random
  • Sales Advice
  • Sales Coaching
  • Sales Process
  • Sales Speaker
  • Sales Team Development
  • Sales Tips
  • Services
  • Skiing
  • Social Selling/Social Media/Content Marketing
  • Socially Booked
  • Spazz Out
  • Strategy
  • Success Saturdays
  • Sunday Morning Blog
  • Taught Leaders
  • Technology and Products
  • The Chase
  • The Word
  • To the Community
  • Uncategorized
  • Videos
  • What I Think!
  • What Would You Do Wednesdays?
  • WITCE Wednesdays
  • Workplace Culture

    • Simple to Complicated

    May 11, 2010

    The other day we were looking at pictures from my trip to Africa, when some zebra pictures flashed on the screen. Typical to seeing pictures of zebras, their stripes were discussed. Someone made the comment how amazing it is every zebra’s stripes are different and that no zebra stripes were alike. In agreement we all admired the wonders of nature . . . when it hit me.

    It’s not impressive at all no zebra stripes are alike. No tiger stripes are alike either. There is nothing amazing or complicated about NOT repeating the same pattern. It’s simple really. It’s a lot easier to be random and chaotic, than precise and repetitive. What would be truly amazing is if two zebras had the exact same stripe pattern, never mind a whole heard. Think about how difficult that would be. Two zebras with the EXACT same pattern, that would be truly miraculous. Ten million zebras all with different stripes is it not amazing, it’s actually to be expected.

    We often do this in sales, we view a situation as far more complicated than it really is. We approach the problem with the perspective that it’s complicated requiring extraordinary effort.

    We see the competition as unbeatable because they are 20% less. We feel the deal is lost because a particular feature is absent. We assume the deal is going to the other guy, because he is neighbors with the buyer. We see the sale as far more complicated than it really is.

    Like our take on zebra stripes, our fist assessment isn’t always true. Our minds and our emotions play tricks on us. We accept our first reaction, losing site of what is really going on.

    A good sale has lots of stripes and no two sales have the same stripes. It they did, we wouldn’t need sales people.

    When a deal looks complicated, when it looks extraordinary, step back and take a deeper look and ask yourself; is it really complicated or are I’m just looking at that way.

    There is nothing complicated about zebra stripes not being unique. In most cases, your sale isn’t that complicated either, you are just making it that way.

    Don’t turn simple to complicated.

    Keenan