Strategy Simplifed Advice from Jack Welch

A couple of guys jumped in their truck and headed to the woods for a good day of hunting. As the truck screeched to a halt on a dusty trail the passenger jumped out. Blam, blam, blam. The sound of his three shots rang out and he said to his friend, “I sure hope something runs into those.”

Ridiculous right? Nobody would hunt that way, right? But how often do we approach selling the same way? How often do we hope that our message will fit some buyer instead of finding out what the market wants and crafting a solution and our selling message to that need?

It comes down to strategy. Oh, not the ‘S’ word. There is no other subject, besides perhaps Cold Calling, that kills a conversation, causes eyes to roll, and quick jerks to the smartphone to avoid further discussion. Jack Welch has a simple answer, one that applies to what you sell, the accounts you manage and the opportunities you should be pursuing. It boils down to this:

How do you intend to win the business?”

Jack Welch says that strategy comes down to that one question: how do you intend to win this business? Never again make a call, an account plan, or a strategy to win a piece of business without first asking yourself how you intend to win. If you don’t know what the customer wants or why they should be buying from you not only are you wasting everyone’s time but you actually have no business working that sale.

You can’t hit a target that you’re not aiming for. Lead Generation, moving a sale from curiosity to close, keeping an account buying all comes down to your answering Mr. Welch’s question. Be the hunter that methodically plans, aims and executes his shots instead of the one hoping some prize will wander into his spent efforts. That is the way you bag big game trophies or in-fact any sales.