Insights on Mastering the Art of Sales on the Global Sales Leader Podcast

You’re taking your son to his first ever baseball game. On the way to the stadium, he looks at you and says, “Dad, we’re gonna catch a baseball.”

Naturally, you respond, “yes we will, son!”

This exact scenario happened to Karl - but it had the best ending possible. He happened to be sitting in prime seats to catch a stray ball. During the third inning, his son turned and asked, “When are we going to catch the ball?”

“How about now?”

Just then, a ball gets hit their way and Karl’s eyes don’t leave it for a second. He catches the ball, hands it to his son, and starts thinking, man, am I the father of the year, or what?

By the end of the game, he realized a problem. He had two sons. And now, only one of them had a baseball.

Over the next couple of weeks, he started thinking about how he could catch a baseball for his younger son, too. He realized he’d need to:

• Get seats where a ball would realistically be hit or thrown
• Dress in the home team’s colors or a jersey
• Have kids with him
• Bring a baseball glove (and be ready with it on - lol)
• Once again, believe he would catch that ball

They may have seemed like minor steps, but these seemingly small actions increased his odds of success.

After all, you can’t catch a ball if you’re sitting in the nosebleeds, and a baseball player would be much more likely to toss a ball his way if he looked like a fan - and if that ball was going to a kid.

What exactly does this have to do with sales? As it turns out, more than you’d think. One of the things that sets a good salesperson apart from a great salesperson is that, before every meeting they have, a great salesperson thinks about ways to increase their odds of winning the customer’s business. Whether it be mapping out their route to arrive early, making sure their car is clean and looks professional, anticipating and removing any possible distractions within their control, and clearly communicating next steps, a great salesperson knows that chance favors the prepared.

Of course, great preparation is not a guarantee that what you’re working towards will go your way (although, in Karl’s case, once again, it did). But it does give you the best shot of achieving your desired outcome.

On Karl’s appearance on the Global Sales Leader podcast, he shares what mentality salespeople need to have to succeed, why a good leader helps their team define what they’re playing for, and the power of bringing sales and marketing teams together.

Check out the full podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to learn more about mastering the art of sales!