When I started my first sales job, over 20 years ago, my boss gave me a piece of sales and marketing advice that has helped me generate millions of pounds worth of sales – and I am going to share it with you right now!
“To make it in sales, fish for whales!”
I asked my former boss what his comment about fishing for whales actually meant. He explained:
“Jim, if you go fishing and you catch 10 goldfish, you won’t even fill a cup – but if you catch 10 whales, you will fill half the beach!”
Sales leverage
With that simple explanation, he taught me how the amount of time and effort required to win a £50,000 sale, was not a great deal more than it took to win a sale of £5,000. This simple idea totally blew my mind! It was my introduction to what I know today as leverage.
I immediately realised that if I wanted to succeed in sales, I needed to prioritise my sales efforts and focus on where I could deliver most value as a salesperson – because that’s where all those whales are!
If you want to dramatically improve your sales figures, make sure your time and energy is invested wisely – fishing for whales and not goldfish!