Basis Laws

Ted Williams, one of baseball’s greatest hitters, once said, “Show me 10 great hitters, and I’ll show you 10 different styles.” Selling is one area of the business world that can be done differently by everyone. True there are some basic principles involved in being successful in sales but each person that is involved in selling has their own style.

As I look around our region, the concepts of different styles is evident. Jeff Hastings has a different style than Bill Baumgartner who is different than Mike Mix or Doug Kimball. Jill Chionio has a unique style all her own. The point is we do not have to be the same or have identical styles. However, there are some key factors that are important in successful selling and without these components it is extremely rare that a person can be successful in building their business. What are some of these elements?

One of the basic laws in physics is Newton’s Third Law of Motion: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. I have a philosophy that I have evolved over the years which I call Storm’s Basic Law of Sales. This law states that the velocity of sales is directly proportionate to the input of qualified leads divided by the number of sales presentations. In other words, new business is irrevocably tied to the number sales presentations (loosely defined as any type of meeting, networking event or cold calls) made on a daily basis.

What I am observing in our region is that there is nowhere near the level of sales activity (new sales presentations as defined above) taking place that there should be. While I believe there is sales activity taking place I am fairly confident that there is not enough to achieve the potential sales curve that is possible.

What are the main factors in the quantity of sales activity not being where it should be?

Check out my next blog posting for the answer.