You're on your way to a Caribbean island
vacation. You have taken a commercial jet to Puerto Rico, and now
you must take a "puddle jumper" - a small two-engine prop driven
plane that holds about 18 passengers - to your final destination.
There are two scheduled flights,
leaving about 20 minutes apart. Jim, one of the two pilots who have
been flying the route for several years, has a truly amazing record.
During the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of flights, he has not once
encountered severe weather or turbulent air and has never
experienced a system failure or equipment malfunction. If there is
such a thing as good karma, Jim has it.
The other pilot, Chuck, has not been
so fortunate. He has encountered turbulent air countless times and
also found himself in the middle of sudden severe storms numerous
times. On one occasion, the plane took a lightning strike that
knocked out the rudder control. On another occasion, a lightning
strike knocked out an engine. During one flight, the landing gear
malfunctioned, and Chuck had to enlist the help of a passenger to
manually crank the landing gear into position while he continued to
fly the plane. If there is such a thing as bad karma, you might
suspect it has found a home with Chuck.
Knowing the experiences of both
pilots, with whom do you want to fly? Jim has been incredibly lucky.
Should you choose him? Chuck, it would appear, has been rather
unlucky. Do you want to fly with him? How do you decide who is the
better pilot?
Does Jim's good luck make him the
better pilot? What happens if you take Jim's flight and maybe, just
maybe, it's the one during which his luck runs out? How well
prepared is he to navigate through a severe storm, to maintain
control of the plane in rough air, or to effectively deal with an
equipment malfunction? Perhaps quite capable, but you don't know.
Does Chuck's bad luck make him the
better pilot? Perhaps. After all, he has encountered difficult
situations - many difficult situations - and competently handled
them. How do we know he competently handled them? Well, he is still
with us ... and still flying. Enough said.
So, whom would you choose?
I'd choose Chuck as my pilot. Why? If
there's a problem on the flight, I'd want a pilot who's previously
"been there," knows instinctively what to do, and has demonstrated
the ability to do it.
I'll bet you're wondering what Jim's
or Chuck's piloting skills have to do with sales. Fair question.
Suppose we rewrite the story? This
time, rather than pilots, let's make Jim and Chuck salespeople who
sell similar services. Both are applying for a sales position at
your company. The person hired will end up working on your sales
team.
Jim has an amazing track record. His
closing ratio hovers around 80%. Jim is also quite fortunate. His
company not only supplies him with pr e-qualified leads generated by
its advertising and marketing efforts but also pre-scripted
presentations. Jim's responsibility is to contact the prospects and
schedule the appointments and then deliver the presentations in a
polished professional manner.
Chuck is not so fortunate. His
company doesn't supply him with leads, pre-qualified or otherwise.
He must use his own initiative to uncover opportunities; qualify
those opportunities; navigate his way through layers of influencers
and decision makers; and then develop and deliver relevant
presentations. Chuck's closing ratio is around 68%. The total number
of sales he closes in a given period of time; however, is about the
same as the number of sales Jim closes.
Who do you suppose is the better
salesperson?
Who would you want on your team?
I would choose Chuck. Why? For the
same reasons he was my pilot of choice. He has demonstrated the
ability to competently do the job - all aspects of the job -
including its most difficult aspects. Jim may also be capable, but
we don't know that. He has not demonstrated that ability.
Whether it's piloting a plane or
piloting a selling opportunity, it's facing the difficult
challenges, sometimes making mistakes (correcting them and learning
from them) that enable one to develop competency. And, competency
trumps luck every time.
There's nothing wrong with luck ...
when you have it. But, eventually, and usually without warning, your
luck runs out - the economy takes a nose-dive, the marketing leads
dry up, or a new and more aggressive competitor emerges. When that
happens, what do you have to fall back on?
Competency, on the other hand, never
runs out. You develop competency by doing the hard tasks - facing
the problems, challenges, and difficulties and then working through
them. The competency you develop enables you to continue to function
and weather the storms and survive the lightning strikes - in
whatever form they take.
So, strive for competency. And if,
along the way, you encounter some good luck, consider it a bonus.
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