A great sales lesson from a doomed fly

Aritcle reprinted from blog by Wendy Weiss; (http://www.wendyweiss.com), email address[email protected].

(I loved this story from the book You Squared, by Price Prichett). It hold great lessons for salespeople.

I’m sitting in a quiet room at the Millcroft Inn, a peaceful little place hidden back amongst the pine trees about an hour out of Toronto. It’s just past noon, late July, and I’m listening to the desperate sounds of a life-or-death struggle going on a few feet away. There’s a small fly burning out the last of its short life’s energies in a futile attempt to fly through the glass of the windowpane.

The whining wings tell the poignant story of the fly’s strategy - try harder. But it’s not working. The frenzied effort offers no hope for survival.

Ironically, the struggle is part of the trap. It is impossible for the fly to try hard enough to succeed at breaking through the glass. Nevertheless, this little insect has stacked its life on reaching its goal through raw effort and determination. This fly is doomed. It will die there on the window sill.

Across the room, ten steps away, the door is open. Ten seconds of flying time and this small creature could reach the outside world it seeks. With only a fraction of the effort now being wasted, it could free itself of this self-imposed trap. The breakthrough possibility is there. It would be so easy.

Why doesn’t the fly try another approach, something dramatically different? How did it get so locked in on the idea that this particular route, and determined effort, offer the most promise for success? What logic is there in continuing to, until death, to seek a breakthrough with “more of the same”? No doubt this approach makes sense to the fly. Regrettably, it’s an idea that will kill.

“Trying harder” isn’t necessarily the solution to achieving more. It may not offer any real promise for getting what you want out of life. Sometimes in fact, it’s a big part of the problem. If you stake your hopes for a breakthrough on trying harder than ever, you may kill your chances for success.

The moral for salespeople is that trying harder and more of the same does not work. Like the doomed fly, you push harder and harder, yet the prospect delays and delays. That’s what happens when your company does not use lead scoring. That’s what happens when you don’t find creative ways to engage. For instance, when was the last time you attended an Investor Day, attended a dinner with The CMO Club or posted a comment to a CEO’s blog?

Don’t be the fly. Stop, think and learn. Look for that open door.

I’m the Fearless Competitor, who turns good companies into Fearless Competitors.

For companies looking for best practices in b2b lead generation who wish to improve the way they acquire new customers, Find New Customers is the place to go. CSO Insights says companies need to improve the way they generate leads and implement processes for business to business lead generation.

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is a demand generation expert and sales leader, as well as the President of Find New Customers, alead generation company, who helps businesses create lead generation campaigns and continually publishes the best lead generation ideas, so his readers can determine the best lead generation strategy to find new customers. He can be reached at (516) 284-4930 or [email protected].