You hate to see it. A golfer who blows a 5-stroke lead going into the back 9 on Sunday. Or a team going back home up 3-1, only to watch the wrong color confetti fall after losing a game 7 the next week. Or a kicker going wide right on a chip shot field goal as time expires to lose. I remember being a kid in 2004 when my Red Sox came back from down 3-0 to the rival New York Yankees to win the American League Pennant in route to their first World Series since 1918, breaking the legendary Curse of the Bambino. To this day, I don’t know if anything will top that for me. Was it an epic comeback by the Sox, or a monumental collapse by the Yankees? Who knows, but it happens all the time. Some call it “choking”: cracking under pressure in a big moment and losing all momentum you had previously built up. Like I said, it happens in sports all the time, but we also see choking in sales every month as well.
Let’s take a closer look at the idea of “choking” first. What does that even mean? Typically, we associate chocking with big games or big moments. But really, what’s the difference? For example, if the Warriors lose 3 out of 4 games in the regular season, no one would really bat an eye. When that happened in the finals a few years back, it was considered a choke job, especially coming off of a record 73-win season. Really, the only difference was the scenario.
Losing 3 out of 4 games during that particular time resulted in losing the NBA finals- an NBA final that most people considered a lock, especially after having a 3-1 lead.
The games were played on the same court, with the same size basketballs, against the same Cavs team they would have faced if it was a regular season game in January. The only difference was the scenario. It was the NBA finals! Same can be said about golf (“It was a Major!”) or Major League Baseball (“It was the World Series!”) or even in sales (“It was the last week of the month!”).
Is Last Minute Change Necessary?
When looking at a monthly quota for a salesperson, they can often be intimidating, especially as we continue to cross off more days and get closer and closer to that final number. That number could be the last day of the month. It could be the last day to qualify for a sales contest. Maybe it’s the last day to hit a commission tier that is going to allow you to pay rent on time this month. Who knows? But, the fact is, we all have deadlines and we all have the equivalent of a “big game” in sports. That is one of the reasons I love sales; the many parallels to sports. Some of us are just the ones who deliver on a constant basis, month in and month out. It doesn’t matter if it is the heart of the busy season, or the week before Thanksgiving. The numbers are going to be there no matter what. Some of us thrive in these “pressure” scenarios. We need 10 deals this week? No problem, just means we need to work a little harder and make a lot more touches. However, there are the salespeople who are terrified by the pressure, and all too often find themselves choking in that home stretch. You can have a great month, be the top producer in the office weeks 1-3, but when that last week hits, the “4th quarter” you could say, you find yourself succumbing to the pressure. You find yourself not being able to break into that next tier, or that next level, or even maintaining that first-place status. Is it choking, or are you just allowing yourself to sway off of the course that got you there in the first place?
Stick To What’s Been Working For You
I believe choking can be broken down to someone losing sight of the skills and the process that got them there in the first place. They try too much to overcompensate because they feel they need to do something different. Maybe they switch up their pitch or try to “hard close” a little differently, or maybe they are too aggressive on their prospecting calls, resulting in LESS appointments, resulting in LESS deals being done. All the while the clock continues to tick, and the days continue to come to an end, and you are stuck sitting there wondering how you blew it to end the month. But these thoughts never crossed your mind in week 1,2, or 3 I would imagine. You were probably just doing what you have been doing: Using the pitch you’ve had success with, approaching prospects in the manner that has always worked for you, and most likely, gotten the results you had always gotten. Then when the pressure was on, you thought you had to switch everything to make sure you closed out strong. That’s where it all went wrong. Then, before you know it, you have your worst week of the month, and someone else in the office leapfrogged you for the monthly sales bonus.
Here’s My Suggestion:
Stick to what has been working for you, don’t feel the sudden need to switch up your approach because it is the “Finals”. Now, if you are going to switch anything up, focus on the activity side of things. Greg said it best in Boiler Room. “This is a contact sport, meaning, the more people you contact, the better you’ll do.” Don’t change the playbook, just hurry up the offense. Be confident in what you are doing, put your foot on the gas, and be clear about where you want to finish. I am a big believer in envisioning your goals before you achieve them. Let the other guys worry about flipping the script just because it is the last week of the month, you just worry about staying the course, and finding a place to put that trophy for “Salesperson of the Month”.
