Sun Tzu & Sales: Know Yourself and Win All Battles
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
"Know yourself and you will win all battles."
-Sun Tzu
Good morning sales and business warriors. Some ancient thoughts on this lovely sales Friday.
As sales professionals, we can often look to unconventional sources for inspiration. One such unexpected gold mine is Sun Tzu’s ancient military strategy guide, "The Art of War." Despite being over two millennia old, this text brims with wisdom just as applicable to modern sales as it was to ancient warfare.
"Know yourself and you will win all battles," Sun Tzu proclaims. At first glance, this statement may seem more suited to a personal development seminar than a wickedly well written sales blog ;). But on closer inspection, it unveils a powerful strategy that can transform your sales outcomes.
Understanding your personal capabilities and limitations is critical to achieving sales success. Much like how a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) is used to understand a business, a personal SWOT analysis can be just as insightful for the individual salesperson.
Knowing Your Strengths
We all have areas where we excel. Perhaps you have a knack for building strong relationships with customers, or you’re particularly adept at understanding and communicating complex product details. Recognize these strengths, nurture them, and let them shine through your sales approach. Emphasize these strengths when interacting with potential clients. In this self-awareness lies your power, your unique value proposition.
Acknowledging Your Weaknesses
No one is perfect. We all have areas of weakness. Rather than ignore these, or worse, let them drag you down, acknowledging your weaknesses can pave the way for improvement or allow for team-based strategies where others' strengths can compensate for your weaknesses. Self-awareness isn't about beating yourself up; it's about understanding where you need to improve and taking proactive steps to better those areas.
Identifying Opportunities
The world of sales is filled with opportunities — new technologies, evolving market trends, or unexplored customer segments. By understanding your strengths and weaknesses, you can better identify which of these opportunities are within your reach and which may require some self-improvement before you can effectively pursue them.
Recognizing Threats
Whether it's a tough competitor, shifting market dynamics, or personal burnout, threats abound in the sales landscape. Again, knowing yourself will allow you to anticipate, prepare for, and manage these threats instead of being blindsided by them.
By taking Sun Tzu's wise words to heart, you can build a sales strategy rooted in self-knowledge and adaptability. But remember, the journey towards self-awareness is not a destination but an ongoing process. Make it a habit to periodically assess and reassess your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Remember, every great salesperson is not born but made. So, set aside some time for introspection and identify the building blocks that make you unique. Knowing yourself, your victories, your areas for improvement, your goals and dreams, can set you up for a level of sales success that transcends quotas and targets. As Sun Tzu would have it, know yourself, and you will win all your battles.
In this fiercely competitive sales environment, your most significant competition is with yourself. Strive to be better than you were yesterday. Understand yourself better. Play to your strengths. Work on your weaknesses. Spot the opportunities. Mitigate the threats. Win your sales battles by first winning the battle within. And remember - the only battle you truly lose is the one you give up on. So, keep pushing, keep selling, and keep winning.
Go forth and conquer!