Preparing for the Battle....

Many a young salesperson, like me, was brought up on a healthy sales training diet of the Art of War by Sun Tzu. Business is War! Sales is War! And here we are on the eve (or eve eve) of another 'war' or at least 'battle' between two of the auldest (sic) enemies out there - Scotland v England in the capital (of Scotland that is).

Having lived 'daaan saaaf' for over 30 years, and that's more than I've lived up north, a Scotland v England (or England v Scotland) match, is always a mix of excitement, trepidation, nervousness, jocularity, high expectation... ultimately leading to me really not enjoying the event much at all! OK, I am not going to lie, if Scotland win - and we do seem to be on a bit of a roll at rugby and I'll come back to that later - it is fun and I do enjoy the bragging rights. But the pain and anguish of defeat - and there have been many many many more of those over the last 55 years - always outweigh the pleasure of the occasional victory (you don't really need to fact check the stats... I'm sure we jocks are behind).

I am actually writing this post before the match as it's likely I will either have a) not very much to say as we'll have lost and I'll be keeping my head down or b) not very much to say as we'll have won and I value my marriage, my relationships with my kids, and have some great friendships that could go awry - there really is no positive outcome here!

"Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories”

I wonder how many sales campaigns, or rugby matches, have been lost by not knowing the opposition. I touched on this in a post the other week, and I do love this quote from Sun Tzu. I suspect every aspect of the 'enemy' has been micro-analysed this week - and whatever last minute changes have taken place, Townsend and Borthwick will be respectively all over it. Do we do this level of research every time in business, or do we sometimes drop our guard and some of our victories are wiped out by our most recent defeats? 'You are only as good as your last sale' is often banded about. You are only as good as your last (sporting) victory. If you lost your last war, you are likely to be either dead or imprisoned (I'll drop the parallel there).

Prepare prepare prepare aka practice practice practice. Fail to prepare? Prepare to fail....

"He who knows which battle he should engage in and which he should avoid, will win"

Where do you want to fight your battles and when? If your competition have a better product, do you know need to fight on service and support? Is it a commercial and value discussion you should be pursuing to deflect from an inferior product? Is it about relationship and who your client wants to work with? I've never worked a sales campaign that hasn't come down to one of these three - and a need to show clear blue water between you and the enemy. Scotland won't beat England in the front five on Saturday - England are always too strong - so which are the battles they can win, to win the overall war? Our wingers? Our kicking game? Finn's long pass...??

"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat"

I do love this. When we watch a game unfold, it's usually the small things - tactically - that impact the result. Strategies are great but don't forget there are 80 minutes of execution that underpin your strategy. I don't want to be lying under a banner at the end of the day that says 'great strategy but England won by 25'.

I work with and talk to a lot of seasoned, very experienced sales people. Often their strategies are flawless - it's brilliant listening and irrefutable that if executed to plan, their strategy may deliver the result - eventually. I then talk to them about their preparation for the next sales call. I hear a lot of (unspoken) 'I don't need to do a call plan, been doing this for years, I know how to sell' and, yep, that lack of preparation for the next big call, results in lost momentum and ultimately defeat. It's the actions that underpin the strategy that make the difference.

"If the mind is willing, the flesh could go on and on without many things"

Scots are known for their passion. Their beating heart. Their strong belief in their destiny, their god given right. Which is just as well because quite often - in fact more than often - we are the second best team on the pitch! We love being the underdog - I note that this week we are, scarily, not. We often genuinely play 'out of our skins' in order to meet our goals, overcome our physical weaknesses to secure victory.

When have you been down and out in a campaign? Have had to rally the troops, beat your chests, make this a 'must win' situation, pull out all the stops, drain your self, your team, your company of all available resources, in order to win that deal? Winning is NOT easy. It is exhausting. It is all embracing. But if the mind is willing and if you and your team have enough positive attitude, you can and will wear that winner's medal, and lift that cup with pride.

I have no idea what Sun Tzu would have made of an auld enemy clash between Scotland and England. But I'm sure he would have had an interesting piece of advice for both Messrs Townsend and Borthwick. I wonder which of them sleep with 'The Art of War' under their pillow...?

Slàinte Mhath