Warren Buffett tells a story about a conversation with Mike Flint, the pilot of his personal jet. Flint had been his pilot for over ten years, and Buffet remarked he must be doing something wrong because his employee had never been promoted.

Buffett asked the pilot to make a list of his top 25 goals for the

	"The Avoid at all Cost List"

next two years, and then rank them in order of importance. The pilot took some time and came up with his list. Buffet then asked him to circle the top five priorities, and call that the "A" list.

He then casually asked "what do you plan to do with your "B" list, the priorities 6-25?"   The pilot replied these were also important and he would get to them when he could. Buffett said "No, that is the 'Avoid at all cost list!". 

By trying to achieve too much, we achieve too little. Buffett preaches relentless focus on a few key strategic priorities. Attention to anything else is a distraction.

Responsiveness can Kill Sales

Customers rate responsiveness very high on their list of attributes they value in a salesperson. Why would a fast response be bad for sales? Several reasons.

The salesperson can give a proposal well before the customer is ready to buy, and the opportunity then sits for weeks or months and goes cold. 

 
Or the salesperson provides the first response which the customer then uses as a benchmark for other company's quotes. 

 
The biggest reason is counter-intuitive. A responsive salesperson gives the customer what they want. This may not be what they need.  

What if the customer request is wrong? What if there are solutions the customer is not even aware of?  A professional salesperson will:

• Interview multiple stakeholders
• Confirm customer priorities and requirements
• Identify potentially unconsidered needs
• Investigate alternative solutions

How Deep are you Digging?

Salespeople who crank out proposals are quote jockeys, not salespeople. When salespeople propose before they have "earned the right", they are committing professional malpractice.

Profound Answers come from 

Simple Questions

Many salespeople are afraid of asking questions  because they think it will make them appear unknowledgeable . Quite the opposite is true. 

"We run this company on questions, not answers" Eric Schmidt - Former CEO of Google

I've found the simplest, open ended questions provide the biggest surprises and insights. These questions are always appropriate:

• What is going well?
• What's one thing you'd like to change?
• Why?
• Can you tell me more?
• How did you do that?
• If you had a magic wand, what would you do?

The best questions make the person think.  They can't answer immediately. As legendary interviewer Cal Fussman (Vanity Fair, Esquire, Sports Illustrated) said "Let the silence do the work".

One of my clients was approached by a hugely successful Wall Street Investor, who was looking to make strategic investments in the industry. He asked only three simple questions. Deceptively simple, yet the answers delivered profound insights to him:

• Why doesn't everybody buy from you?
• What are your three biggest gripes?
• If you had $1M, what would you do with it?

A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Surrounded by an Enigma

I recognize it's hard to find truth when there are as many confusing, contradictory statements as we see in the sales profession.  Yet I still believe these paradoxes contain great truth and wisdom.  Here are a few others I've found illuminating:

• "You need to go slow to go fast"
• "Complexity is comprised of simple elements"
• "Help yourself by focusing on others"
• "Organization doesn't freeze you, it frees you"
• "Failure leads to Success"