Hitting “21″ in your Sales Pipeline

I was just in Las Vegas for Selling Power Magazine’s sales conference. My trip to “Sin City” got me thinking about real gambling…hoping that your deals will close!

It would be nice to know the odds of every deal and double down on the deals that you knew would close. In essence, this is how MIT (and some Harvard students) were able to defeat the Casinos.

They were able to shift the odds in their favor. My question is why can’t VPs of Sales also shift the odds in their favor. Why can’t they double down with precision versus hunches? I don’t know if they can ever double down with certainty. However, I am sure that they can reduce risk. They can use metrics and trends to discover what deals are more likely to slip. They can analyze their own team to more quickly spot underperformers. And, they don’t need to hire MIT PHds!

Go watch the new movie “21” and then think…why can’t easy to use reports help me “count the cards” of my deal? What is interesting to note is that the VP of Sales does not have to worry about the Casino catching him/her. He/she needs to worry that the competition is investing in trends…now that can bring down YOUR house.

posted by Nate Bride at 3:42 pm

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