Sales as Combat  

These words are dedicated to those of you who sell for a living.  I don't mean for the title to put you off, I just want to explore a sales theme with you.

Have you ever reflected on the notion that your chosen profession has led you into something akin to a combat zone? For those of you who haven’t served, this may be a stretch; but take a leap of faith with me.  I’m not talking body counts here; I’m just drawing parallels between two demanding environments. So please humor me for a few paragraphs, because I believe there is a valuable business lesson that can be learned from our brothers and sisters under arms. Direct correlations can be made that the proactive, strategic and tactical planning axioms used in combat, can be applied in business with the proper training and leadership. These concepts are global – applicable anywhere on the planet.

Think of the corporate landscape over the last few decades. Many well known businesses are no longer with us. Now envision these failed brands as a metaphor that represents the killing fields of business. These fields are strewn with the remains of high profile organizations beaten into submission. World events and innovation surely were the cause of some of the carnage, but I’m guessing leadership, or lack thereof had something to do with it, too. 

Proper operational planning is too often overlooked as a critical tool in the leadership war chest. How can a new product launch succeed, or a targeted strategic account be won without it? What are the over-the-horizon initiatives? What competitive product strategies are in play?   Some executive management groups or committees do attempt to develop viable battle plans – but often the planners aren’t operating in the realm of reality, and the results are dismal because they just don’t know what they’re doing. Hire a vet! 

It seems like many selling organizations tend to be reactive instead of proactive. Collaboration is an excellent way for a leader to gather ideas – but there should be only one commanding general at the top of the organizational chart – decision by committee has been a great crippler of sales organizations. Waiting for the smoke to settle and infighting to cease ties the hands of a leadership group. Consequently they lose their agility; simple initiatives are weighed down by sheer numbers and egos. Want a recommendation?  Have the committee members serve to develop and present thoughtful strategies in the planning sessions. Then it’s time to let the person in charge make the decision whether or not to execute. Boom! It takes a leader.

Consider those who lead subordinates into harm’s way. Whether in business or military, the professionals’ mandate is to keep their troops in a constant state of operational readiness. Maintaining situational awareness in either endeavor is critical. Business vigilance should consider the competitive landscape as a free-fire zone, 24 x 7.

Executive teams as well as small unit leaders must study their craft and maintain the manpower, expertise and resources necessary to execute the mission. Guess (may not be for the squeamish) what?  In sales, the job description is to crush the competition by providing an overwhelmingly superior solution coupled with a compelling customer centric selling process. Not looking for prisoners here, take ‘em out! 

In business as in life, expect the unexpected. In spite of your planning, sometimes the smelly stuff is going to hit the fan. Preparing your troops for contingencies requires unit discipline. Those that prepare for problems fare far better than those who don’t.  With that in mind, the military grooms its leaders – those on the upward promotion track, attend graduate school. They call it, no surprise, War College.

 In war and in business, winning combatants learn to improvise, adapt and overcome* in the face of adversity. Salespeople execute better because good training prepares them not to panic or succumb to baser instincts (discount, concessions, etc.) when the unexpected occurs. When considering professional development, consider the notion of constant vigilance. In order to maintain this high alert status the military seeks out high achieving candidates for selection and admission to the service academies. Even at the small unit in-the-field level, corporals and sergeants (first line managers), are continuously cycled through combat specialty training and leadership courses. It’s no small wonder that our military functions as our nation’s most effective unofficial business school. We could learn from their examples.

Enlightened business organizations have developed internal learning universities where participants are afforded the opportunity to absorb the tactical and strategic lessons learned from sales combat.  Professional development, usually administered from an HR training element, will help ensure optimized operational efficiency. Training, lot’s of it, is needed…repetitive, over and over again (war games), until it becomes second nature.  Doctors and lawyers do it, dentists do it, and police and firemen do it.  Marines do it. Salespeople, not so much.

Management should brainstorm programs that are patterned danger-close to real tactical selling situations. It’s important that in the heat of battle, the correct words and phrases will go racing down from the brain housing group and out of the lips of your sales person.

 “It’s far better to sweat in training, than to bleed in combat…. now get on your *#&!^@%$&@*!$ faces, and give me another fifty.”

I don’t know who first screamed those words, and one would certainly modify the phraseology for the business world – but think of the concept. Training ensures proper execution, which in turn helps shorten time to revenue, while strengthening market hold and sustaining profit cycles.

We hear it all; “we’re spending too much time out of the field, too expensive, not necessary, etc.” When times are tough, training programs are the first to go, or, are ignored far too often. This is counter intuitive, lack of preparation contributes heavily to the casualty count referred to earlier in this piece.

 

A thought - look at your existing training regimens. If they’re inadequate, fix them. That’s part of being a leader.

* Phrase used by Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Highway (Clint Eastwood) in the movie, Heartbreak Ridge.  Silly movie, but great lines used in context.