What does Sales Is A Numbers Game mean?
Its an expression used by lots of people, mostly with a knowing smirk, as if they’re privvy to some sort of higher intelligence the rest of us don’t have. This is a bit like the economist claiming to predict the markets and just as meaningless.
By Sales Is A Numbers Game they mean the more people you pitch your product at, the more sales you’ll make. And at one level there is some truth in this accepted wisdom. Afterall, even blind squirrels get lucky once in a while, and stumble upon a nut.
But mostly the Numbers Game is a concept with which unscrupulous, or lazy, or stupid owners and managers exploit the desperation of failing sales people.
It comes from the earliest days of the Industrial Revolution when rich factory owners needed representatives to sell face to face to the new consumers. In those days manufactured products were in short supply, and demand was high, from populations desperate to take advantage of the new lower cost, mass produced, goods. Products were simple, and customers ill informed. Competition was minimal, and customer wants were easily satisfied.
Contrast that scenario with today’s markets, where customers are informed, and demanding, and have no shortage of alternative supply options. Competitors fall over themselves to offer more customer value, at lower cost.
Elsewhere we’ve explained why selling the old fashioned way doesn’t work so well anymore,
and suggested a manifesto for the new selling paradigm.
Our case study shows how numbers don’t mean anything unless there’s a clear understanding of who will buy, for what reason, and how they’ll pay. Define that demographic and the numbers game comes into play, but not meaningfully. Every target is a probable prospect.
Don’t just take our word for it. The Harvard Business Review agrees how the job of selling is changing, but the people doing it aren’t.
Why doesn’t the traditional approach to selling and sales management work so well any more? What can the modern sales professional do to stay relevant in today’s customer driven markets? Check out our eBook Reengineering Sales Management for ideas on how to embrace the new order of customer driven buyer/seller relationships.
