Is a kid’s game really more complicated than your business?
by Todd Youngblood
Most sales execs can easily get their hands on a dozen or so indicators of how well their sales teams are performing. Any 10-year-old with internet access can instantly get 109 up-to-the-minute indicators of how well a major league baseball team is performing. Obviously, the game is far more complex than your sales process…
Actually, it’s not really 109 metrics. That’s just what’s published at www.mlb.com.
Since both individual and team metrics are important, it’s twice that, or 218. Also, in the real world, they consider right-handed and left-handed pitching, so it’s 436. Then there’s day games and night games – 872. Then there are those other measures that aren’t published… Then there’s… You get the picture.
Do baseball managers actually use all those statistics? You bet they do. Not only that, they analyze as many of the combinations and permutations as they possibly can.
Now, many would contend that success in a sport is due more to art than science; that it’s more dependent on instinct and natural skill than cold hard facts. If that’s the case, why do they do all that number crunching?
The answer is control. Control can be imposed only by predicting what is most likely to happen on the next pitch, and then maximizing the odds that the right player is in the right place at the right time, anticipating the right thing.
In other words, it’s a numbers game. A numbers game based on:
- the individual skills of each player…
- collectively executing an extremely well-defined process…
- that is measured in minute and extensive detail…
- and is scientifically managed to maximize the odds of taking actions that will ensure success.
Maybe there’s a lesson in here for sales managers. Maybe we need more than natural-born sales eagles. Maybe we need to understand the nature and nuances of our sales process in a LOT more detail. Maybe we need a working handle on several hundred metrics instead of a handful.
…or maybe the kid’s game really is far more complex than your sales process.
Think about it…
