Why Some Salespeople Believe Horses Can Fly

At first glance, it might seem as though this horse can fly. Yet, upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the horse is merely positioned in front of a large bird, creating a fascinating optical illusion. This illusion serves as a powerful metaphor for a study I conducted to help our enterprise sellers understand the underlying reasons behind why they were winning or losing deals.

My company had commissioned a third-party firm to interview dozens of clients and prospects to uncover the true drivers behind their decision-making processes. The insights we gathered were both illuminating and enlightening. By distilling and ranking the hundreds of responses, I identified the top three reasons clients chose to buy from us: the perceived value we offered, our ability to solve their business challenges, and how well our solution met their needs. Surprisingly, factors such as the sales process, company reputation, and the seller's personal relationship with the client were less significant in the decision-making process.

In contrast, when I surveyed 80 of our enterprise sellers about the same question, their perceptions differed dramatically. Many believed that the primary reason for winning deals was the strength of their personal relationships with clients. While building relationships is undoubtedly a crucial skill in sales, this disparity in perception revealed a common misalignment between how we view our success and what truly influences our clients' decisions.

This misalignment highlights a critical lesson: to maximize success, we must align our perspective with that of our clients. The optical illusion of the horse and the bird is a reminder that sometimes, our perceptions can obscure the reality of what drives client decisions. Just as Pegasus, the mythical winged horse, defies natural laws, our preconceptions can lead us astray if we don’t ground ourselves in the actual factors that matter to our clients.

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