Fishing and Selling - What's the Difference?

On a recent fishing trip (unsuccessful) I was reflecting on the many challenges and opportunities we discuss in our Pabasso - Peer Advisory Board Associates meetings and the similarities between fishing and selling, both of which I have spent much of my life doing.

Fishing not Catching: so-called because we know that you cannot expect to catch every time you go fishing. It’s the same with sales, you cannot expect to turn every sales call into an order but you have to believe that every time you go fishing you will catch something, it's the same with selling, you have to believe that every sales call may produce an opportunity.

Preparation: before you go fishing you should always spend some time preparing for your trip and making sure you don't forget anything that could restrict your success. It's the same with selling if you don't prepare well for your sales calls you may well miss something that could have made the difference.

Fish or Dig Bait? Whilst preparation is very important, if we spend too much time digging bait we will never get to go fishing. Just like sales, it’s a balance between having enough bait/doing enough research and starting fishing/selling.

Hope and Expectation are Everything: nobody goes fishing not expecting to catch anything, we always fish with hope but with the realisation that you cannot catch every time. It’s exactly the same as selling. Disappointment is part of the deal - but it is long forgotten when you achieve success.

The Tug is the Drug: it’s not the preparation for a fishing trip that lights up most fishermen, it's when the line tightens and you know you have something on the line that you hope to reel in. Again it's the same with selling, the thrill is when you find that opportunity that you think you can fulfil, and the challenge then is reeling it in and landing it.

You have to be in it to win it: there is only one truth in fishing and that is if your line is not in the water you will never catch anything. Just like selling. You have not put your products and services out there if you want to win customers, if you don't tell you can't sell!

Proactive or Reactive? when we go fishing we can either go looking for the fish or wait for them to come to us. Seeking out your prey can be more interesting and more rewarding than waiting for them to come to you. An alternative is to attract them to you by throwing in bait to gain their interest, just like sales and marketing, do you go looking for customers in the most likely spots or do you put out messages to get them to come to you?

Persistence Does it: it's hard to remain positive if you are not getting any interest from the fish but you have to believe that the next cast will produce a fish. Just like selling, no instant success doesn't mean you should pack it in and go home. Perseverance and resilience deliver in both fishing and selling.

Never give up, if it was easy everyone would be doing it!

We currently have a vacancy in one of our Yorkshire-based Pabasso – Peer Advisory Board Associates boards so if you would like to know more about how we at Pabasso – Peer Advisory Board Associates help leaders of established businesses progress through shared experiences, expertise, and support, please do not hesitate to get in touch. 

If you would like to know more about how we at Pabasso – Peer Advisory Board Associates help leaders of established businesses progress through shared experiences, expertise and support, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

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